Save my Soul Tonight
by xCryssax
Summary: A young human psychic with immense power finds solace with her new family and friends and finally finds an outlet to train and gain in strength. What secrets does she unknowingly hold within her, and what effect will it have on the family she holds dear? Rated M for future content. HieixOC
1. Chapter 1 Memories

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, storyline, or any of its characters. I do, however, own my original character and storyline.

I'm a long time fic writer just getting back into the hobby, so I may be a bit rusty. I've got 13 chapters of this story typed up so far, so frequent updates are a guarantee. This will follow the anime storyline from the dark tournament through the three kings saga and beyond. Constructive, but not mean, criticism is welcomed...along with cookies :)

Summary: Kurisa, a young human psychic with immense power, finds solace with her new family and friends and finally finds an outlet to train and gain in strength. What secrets does she unknowingly hold within her, and what effect will it have on the family she holds dear?

Ch. 1

A young girl, around 13 years of age, was on her way to her next foster home in an urban neighborhood of Japan. She spent the ride reflecting on her life so far, and found herself becoming more depressed as the miles ticked by.

She was only three years old when it all began. She was too young to understand what it meant or what it was, but it frightened the young child immensely when a small random fireball shot out from her palms after an argument with one of her cousins and set a small tree ablaze at a family gathering. All she could do was sit on the grass and cry in confusion as the adults present extinguished the fire.

Her and her parents received many dirty looks and comments from various family members she had never met before. And she remembered the silent ride home and being sent to bed immediately upon arrival. She did not understand why her parents were angry, but looking back now it seemed like the anger was mixed with expressions of fear.

Since that incident, other strange things began to happen around her. Fireballs were soon followed by water balls, and soon it even seemed that the very weather around her changed with just her mood. She could create wind storms and lightning storms with torrential rain if she wanted, although returning weather patterns back to normal was a bit more challenging. She didn't always have control of her blossoming power back then.

Finally, just before her fourth birthday, her parents dropped her off at the local hospital and never returned for her, and she was placed in foster care. Her temporary guardians thereafter were not much better than her actual family. They feared the power that she and her family did not understand.

Its human nature to fear what you do not understand.

Her guardians responded to their fear of her with obvious hate, neglect, and physical, verbal, and even sexual abuse. Each new home she was moved to she viewed with optimism at first, but her hopes were always quickly dashed.

But her constant moving from place to place and her blossoming power were blessings in disguise. Strange beings, some with horns and extra appendages and some with odd colored skin or fur would occasionally attack her. The first attack happened at age five. An ugly hairy blue beast with six eyes on his forehead and a long lizard-like tail armed with an axe screamed something about her powers and charged her while she played outside one evening. It only took a strong bolt of lightning summoned from the darkening sky to incinerate the horrible creature into a pile of ash and dust.

This became routine with every home she moved to.

She smirked slightly remembering all of the short battles she had won over the last eight years. They were only short due to the fact that the creatures seemed to be no match to her power. Creatures she had found out at a young age were actually demons.

She did not know why they attacked her, only that they seemed to be attracted by her powers like a moth to flame.

At age eight she stayed the longest stretch of time at a home with a large hidden library. She discovered the library upstairs in the attic area while on a nighttime stroll through the large house. Most of the books depicted information and tales so fantastic that if she were just a normal girl she would have thought them children's fantasies, but after all she had seen in her short life so far, she knew better.

Through these books she learned she had the power to harness, summon, and control the elements of nature: Earth, Air, Water, Fire, Ice, and Lightning. These elements were manipulated and controlled by her spirit energy, which she learned was unusually high for a human. Humans with this type of power and energy were very rare, though not unheard of.

Two more elements also existed: Light and Darkness. Humans with the ability to control these elements were unheard of, and indeed she found she could only control the first six.

She also learned how to control her elemental powers better from those books. No longer did she create random bursts of fire, water, or lightning. No longer did she start random earthquakes or freeze random surfaces or summon random tornadoes. Because of this, she was able to stay long enough to learn what she needed to.

Her foster mom caught her one evening in the library. She braced herself for the end of her stay in what was probably the most pleasant home she had ever lived in. However, her guardian understood. She had known all about her nightly library visits, and she explained to the child the existence of demons, and the existence of demon world and spirit world along side their own human world, the demon classes: E, D, C, B, and A classes according to level of power.

She could not stay much longer after she was discovered. Her guardians were the family of a former spirit detective: A human employed by spirit world rulers to solve demon crimes and maintain peace between the three worlds. They no longer associated with supernatural affairs, and knew it would only be a matter of time until the demons who constantly followed the girl would find them all.

After a couple more slightly dull foster homes (only three demons decided to attack her once she gained more control of her abilities in the next five years), she was now on her way to her next home.

Her arrival was quite uneventful. Her guardians promised her social worker that she would be well cared-for, only to leave her to her own devices once her social worker pulled away. She sighed. It had been several homes ago that she had stopped feeling optimistic.

She carried her two small suitcases with all of her worldly belongings up the stairs into the bedroom she was told was hers and began to unpack her clothes and hang them in the closet and put away her random toiletry items into the adjoining bathroom.

She got herself ready for bed that evening and walked into her bathroom. The mirror reflected the image of a young girl of 13 with extremely long black hair that shone reddish in natural light. Her hair, when down, came to her hips. She usually wore her hair tied in a braid with her long bangs in her face. Her skin was fair and showed redness easily, and she tended to be curvier and thicker than average. She had developed a fair amount of muscle tone at a young age from years of fending off demon attackers. Her eyes were her favorite feature…they were a light, brilliant golden color. Her height left much to be desired as she was picked on at school for it, being as she only stood at a mere 4'8". She wasn't sure why she was so short…perhaps years of neglect could do that to anyone.

She started at her new school in the morning. A local junior high. She enjoyed school enough as she loved learning any new information. Science and English were her favorite subjects. As long as her classmates left her alone for the most part, school was one of the few tolerable aspects of her life.

* * *

"Kurisa Ayana." The teacher called.

"Present." I answered.

It had been an unusual day. I had learned over the years to sense the presence of demons within a certain distance of me. If any demons were within a half-mile of me, I knew all about it.

And boy, were my senses going haywire. For some reason I sensed demon energy near my school. It seemed to be coming from the adjoining high school. I decided to investigate after class was over.

The junior high let students go home a few minutes before the high school. I tugged impatiently at my maroon and gold skirt of my uniform as I stood leaning against the fence outside and watched the high school students file past on the sidewalk.

My eyes immediately caught sight of a boy with slightly feminine features with bright red long hair. He wore the maroon and gold men's school uniform and as he walked past he gave me a slight half glance. It was faint, but demonic energy was radiating off this boy. I followed him as he walked, which was simple to do as he was walking in the direction I was heading anyway.

I continued to follow his steps until he and I were the only two on the street. The sun would soon be setting but it did not seem as though my demon target had yet reached his destination. But something about him confused me. I was sure he knew I was following him; we had been walking alone for several minutes now, yet he had not attacked me.

I summoned a small fireball and shot it past the boy's head. I missed intentionally. I wanted to know what he was up to first. No sooner did my fire shoot past did he spin around, summoning a whip in his hand from a single red rose he pulled from his hair and cracking it toward me. I summoned a rock shield in front of me from the ground around me to block his whip, but to my surprise his whip easily broke through my shield like a knife.

'Hmm,' I thought. 'He may actually be a more worthy challenge.'

I used my air element to create a powerful wind strong enough to carry me, and I narrowly dodged his attacks. I could tell he was skilled with the whip, probably more skilled than he let on. He was holding back. I did not know why.

"Impressive." Said the boy. He had a calm, soothing kind of voice. Too calm…I made a note to proceed with caution. "Not many I have met, human or demon, can dodge my attacks as long as you have."

"Yet I can tell you aren't trying to harm me." He continued. His whip turned back into a rose and disappeared back into his brilliant red hair.

"You are right. I could sense your energy back at school. I was only curious as to why a demon was trying to blend into a human school." I explained. I released my wind energy and I settled back to the ground.

"The answer is simple, yet long. I've been sent by Koenma to find you. You have been difficult to find, however." He said.

"Koenma? Prince of spirit world?" I asked, surprised.

"Yes, I see you are familiar with spirit world."

"I am, I have never seen it though." I said.

"We need to make our way there as quickly as possible. I believe you will learn much tonight." He offered me his hand. I have to say, I have never met a polite demon before.

"Sure. But first, may I have your name?" I asked.

His soft green eyes betrayed slight surprise followed quickly by a kind expression. Not many had ever looked at me that way before. He gave me a soft smile before replying.

"Kurama, but you may call me….Suichi"


	2. Chapter 2 Welcome to the Family

Chapter two is here. Thank you to my two followers! Hoping to get a few reviews out of my lurkers, but I'll still update either way. I don't hold chapters for review ransom. I post for the love of writing :)

Disclaimer: See Ch. 1

Followers and Favorites? Awesome

Reviews? Awesome and cookies all around

Flamers? Bring. It. On.

Yeah. I'm hyper. I'll shush and get on with it.

Ch. 2:

* * *

The trip to spirit world was a complete headrush.

Suichi pulled me through a portal of swirling colors. The tunnel we passed through swirled around me faster than any of my tornadoes.

Finally we landed in what appeared to be a large office with a projector screen on one wall and a large desk against the adjacent wall. Standing next to the desk is what I guessed to be one of the ogres I had read about who serve as helpers and advisors to the rulers of spirit world. His skin was blue and he wore only a loincloth.

A girl with violet eyes and ice blue hair wearing a pink kimono was floating….wait, floating? She was sitting on an oar, which floated in midair. Ah, she must be one of the grim reapers of spirit world.

The chair behind the desk turned. In it was what appeared to be a toddler with a pacifier wearing a too-large hat. Who knew that spirit world was ruled by a toddler? This really has been a strange day.

"Ah Kurisa! We have been looking for you for years! Good job in finding her, Kurama." Said the toddler prince.

Suichi merely nodded.

"Botan! Send word. Let the others know that we found her!"

The blue haired girl nodded and flew out a nearby window and disappeared from sight. Koenma then turned to me.

"We know that you are aware of your powers. We also know that it has been an inconvenience to you in the past. It has cost you dearly and you have sacrificed much to survive. We want to help. Kurama and his human family have agreed to take you in…to adopt you. Paperwork is being filed as we speak."

I stood there, stunned. It was almost too good to be true.

"Kurama's family are not aware of anything supernatural and we want to keep it that way. To his family he is known as Suichi Minamino." I nodded in understanding. "You will go to them tomorrow to live. Kurama, along with the rest of my spirit detective team, will also be able to train you to further strengthen and control your energy. Do you have any questions?"

"Why me?" I asked the question that had been burning on my mind since I was a child. "Why can I do what I do?"

"That we are not sure of. You certainly have higher than normal energy levels for a human, which isn't exactly unusual, but in the way it has manifested in you…the ability to control more than one or two elements at will? That is a rare and immense power…a power that can make you a target. We will also research the reasons behind this phenomenon."

"If that is all," Koenma continued, "I will send you on your way. Meet with Kurama after school. He will show you the way."

* * *

That night I had a dream that has recurred since I was a small child. It was the same each time.

_A woman with long silver hair, black fox ears barely visible, held a small bundle of cloth in her arms. The fox demoness rested on a cot bed, a candle on a nearby table the only light in the small room. She had been running…running for weeks on end. She wanted to let sleep take her._

_But she couldn't afford to let down her guard now. She had come so far, sacrificed much already to protect the only thing precious to her._

_She opened the small bundle she held. Inside was a baby a few weeks old. Her brilliant red-orange hair already grown long and sticking out at all angles, tiny black fox ears with silver tips were barely visible, and the child had the markings of the Mazoku, though the markings were almost completely faded by now._

_A knock sounded at the door and a figure entered. The inkeep._

"_Sleep. We will watch your room tonight. Nothing has ever happened to our guests yet."_

_The fox demoness nodded before curling up, her infant child laying next to her, and allowed herself to sleep for the first time in days._

* * *

Suichi certainly wasn't hard to find after school the next day. I waved to him when I saw him and we made our way back to his home.

"So, does this mean you will be like my brother?" I asked.

"I believe it does." He smiled.

"So you didn't answer my question from last night yet. Why is a demon blending in with humans? I've never seen anything like it before."

He turned his gaze from me down to the ground as we walked. His expression hardened.

"You have read much about demon stories and legends have you not?" He asked. I glanced toward him.

"Yes I have. I read anything about demons that I thought could be useful."

"Then you know of the stories told about the king of thieves? The legendary demon bandit?" I nodded.

"Yes, he seemed to be a popular topic of several stories. You speak of Yoko Kurama, am I right?" I paused, smirking as I pieced it all together. I knew that name sounded familiar. "I assume I'm about to find out why Koenma calls you Kurama."

"Fifteen years ago I was seriously injured in a botched burglary. I was being pursued. I found my way to human world and merged my soul with that of an unborn human child. I planned to stay ten years. Just long enough to recover my health and energy."

"Did something go wrong?" I asked, knowing he had said fifteen years ago.

"No, I could have left. I could leave now if I wanted to, but I did not expect to grow to love my human mother and my human family. This experience has changed me. I would sacrifice anything for her." He said. As he spoke of his mother, his expression softened greatly. He spoke of her with love. It was an amazing thing to see.

"I can't wait to meet her. She sounds like an amazing person." I said.

"She truly is" He said with a soft smile. I couldn't help but smile as well. "Here we are."

I got my first look at Suichi's house. For the first time in my life, I was now looking at the place I could finally call home.

I followed him inside. His mother greeted us at the door and she did something I never expected. She gathered me up into a hug.

"Welcome, Kurisa, my daughter. I promise you will never be mistreated again." It was so strange. I wasn't used to being accepted so readily.

Shiori truly was amazing. And I knew that I, too, would do anything for her happiness just after the first evening. We sat down to my first family meal ever. It felt so nice.

During and after dinner we didn't talk much about my past, partly because I didn't want to give away too much, and partly because I was ready to leave my past behind me. I merely confirmed what Shiori had been told about my situation. I had been physically abused and neglected and had been shuffled between foster homes since age three.

Shiori soon went to bed, but not before sharing a goodnight hug and kiss. I relaxed in an armchair near the window in the living room chatting with my new brother. I sipped slowly at a cup of hot tea while we chatted about our favorite subjects in school and our favorite music.

The conversation soon turned to more obvious matters at hand.

"Will you tell me more about the team?" I asked him. I was curious.

"Well there is me, everyone calls me Kurama, and if we are on a mission or in the presence of any demons, you should also refer to be by that name."

"I understand"

"The leader of our team is Yusuke Urameshi. He is human with high levels of spirit energy. He is still considerably weaker than myself, but he has the potential to even surpass me in skill. He is currently away training with his mentor, a human psychic named Genkai."

"Why is he training? And why will I be training?"

"There is an upcoming dark tournament. We are this year's invited guest team. We have no choice but to compete, so we must train as much and as quickly as we can. You will train with me starting in a couple days and will be accompanying us to the tournament, but you will not be competing. "

"So what will we…" I paused. I could sense a presence, clearly demonic, several yards away. Who or what ever it was, they were masking their energy well as they got so close before I sensed them.

The presence only got stronger as it approached. I turned to look out the window. I couldn't make out anything in the darkness, but as my eyes focused I thought I could make out a small, dark figure in a branch halfway up the tree outside the window before it disappeared completely.

I shook it off. I caught my brother's odd glance. Perhaps I was just tired.

"I think I'm going to go on to bed. Goodnight brother." I said, hugging Suichi.

He gave me a strange look. He knew something was up. "Goodnight little sister."

* * *

My new sister went off to bed. I had always wanted a sister, and Kurisa just seemed so special. She was strong in mind and energy, yet she was also quite vulnerable. I had seen first hand what a life without love could do to a person.

Not to mention my Yoko side was also taken with her. He was protective of her, as if she were his own. Demon protectiveness and possessiveness should never be underestimated. It wasn't something that needed to be said…I could feel it.

I could also feel her tense up and turn toward the window. Kurisa was full of surprises. Sure I sensed the energy of my visitor well before she did, but the fact that she could sense him at all was impressive.

I made my way outside and to the usual tree. I looked up toward my visitor and he jumped down to greet me.

"So I see you found the human girl, Kurama."

I nodded. "And we are going to take her in…train her…protect her. She could learn much from watching the dark tournament perhaps."

"And what would be the point in that? We have enough on our hands trying to train the brainless lump without having to babysit another stupid human, too."

I answered him with one of his own trademark glares.

"Did you not sense her energy, Hiei?"

He growled softly, his deep red eyes taking on their usual glare. "Of course I did, her energy is weak if anything at all." Hiei continued to glare, his arms crossed in front of him. He leaned his weight against the trunk of the tree. The chill night breeze toyed with his long black cloak and his spiked blue-black hair, the white highlights around his bangs not clearly visible in the dark.

"But you, like me, also sensed that not only is she strong for her age and for the fact that she hasn't been formally trained, but she has immense stores of energy not yet tapped and a seemingly endless capacity to learn." I retorted, with a slight grin. You could say a lot about Hiei, but he will not lie nor will he deny an obvious truth.

"I plan to introduce her to the rest of the team soon. I feel that with all of us helping her, she will learn much more quickly."

"Hn. Just count me out fox, I can't afford to waste my time babysitting a little human girl." With that he flitted off. I only smirked. Hiei had a history of saying one thing while meaning another. You just had to learn to read between the lines with him.


	3. Chapter 3 Training

So thanks to my new follower and all my readers. Just because you are awesome I shall set out some cookies for ya...oh...and a new chapter cause I'm just crazy like that.

Ch. 3:

* * *

I walked with my brother into a small clearing surrounded by bamboo canes. Suichi mentioned that we would start training each weekend starting this morning. I was quite looking forward to it. I had never had much in the way of formal training, apart from the fact that I would always sign up for martial arts classes when I could as I moved from place to place. I knew that if I were to survive for long I would need some hand-to-hand combat training.

I was a fast learner, what with the risk of having to move again. The fact that I was constantly being pursued by bloodthirsty demons also aided in my motivation. School and martial arts classes were my escape from reality. I hoped it would be enough to help me for now. But then again, my new teacher was a demon after all.

"First I would like to see a demonstration of your elemental powers. Just to see what you know and what we have to work on." Said Suichi. I nodded before going into full concentration.

I was surrounded by a lilac purple aura, which flared high up toward the treetops. I could feel my energy crackle around me as I charged my powers to their full strength.

My brother nodded. "Not bad. I was right in thinking that you are strong for your age. To help you in training we will use the demon energy level scale. Right now you are putting out the energy equivalent to a middle C-class demon. For your age and level of training, this is impressive. You have trained your energy yourself am I correct?"

"Yes." I said, my energy still crackling around me. I raised my hand in the air. The clouds gathered near me in the sky and darkened quickly. Lightning cracked the ground around me, the bamboo canes lay nearly flat with the wind as a tornado touched down and swirled around my hand, ready for my beckoning call. The very earth shook with a slight manipulation of my energy. Just as quickly as it started, I shut down my power, closing my eyes. When I opened my eyes again, the morning sky was back to normal, though the cracks in the earth around me remained.

Before Suichi could comment about my show, I began again. No aura could be seen this time. When I learned to control my energy fully I also learned to mask my energy and aura. Water from the stream several yards from where we stood rose up in a great tidal wave and made its way through the bamboo grove.

I put my full concentration into controlling the direction and size of the wave. The wave moved several yards before I spotted something strange.

A very tall guy with short curly red, almost orange, hair in a white t-shirt and jeans was making his way toward the clearing. I didn't have a chance to sense his energy. My tidal wave was heading right for him!

I flared my energy again, manipulating my final element. The tall guy saw my wave and yelled loudly. Merely a foot away from crashing into him, the wave froze into a solid wall of ice.

The new guy shook slightly then crashed to the ground. Suichi and I made our way over to him.

"That was certainly an interesting way to make introductions." My brother laughed gently. "Excellent control, by the way."

"Sir? Are you okay?" I asked. I could sense his energy now. He was human, his spirit energy was elevated like mine, although slightly weaker than mine.

I noticed Suichi laughing silently. I cast him a strange look before glancing back at my "almost" victim.

"Aww I'm fine!" He said, well, shouted. He had a strange and slightly annoying voice. "I am Kazuma Kuwabara! I have the most awesomest ability ever!"

"Oh really?" I said, raising an eyebrow. "Lets see this awesome ability then." I challenged him.

He stood quickly and took a stance of which I could not identify.

"SPIRIT SWORD!" He yelled. In his hand a bright orange energy sword appeared.

Suichi stepped in between us and turned to me. "Each one of us has a weapon of choice. Some weapons are created or controlled by our energy. Some of our weapons are normal and are enhanced by our energy. I use a whip, which is merely a simple rose I manipulate with my energy. Kuwabara's spirit sword is pure energy, which he is developing an impressive amount of control over. One of our other teammates uses a normal katana, and is an expert swordsman, and our team leader uses a spirit gun with bullets of pure energy."

"So there are four of you in total? Wow." I said. I couldn't wait to meet everyone.

"Yes. By the way, Kuwabara, this is my new little sister Kurisa." Suichi introduced me to his friend. "She is a human psychic much like you and Genkai, and she will be living with my family and joining our training regimen."

"Great to meet you! Any friend of Kurama is a friend of mine. Just know, if anything should happen, the great Kuwabara will protect you!" I had to hand it to the guy, he was very enthusiastic.

"Hn. Don't be ridiculous you fool. If anything we will have a bigger mess to clean up after you are finished." A new voice said from high overhead. It was a male voice, deep and calm with a scathing undertone. I cursed myself. I had been so distracted with the two boys in front of me that I had not even noticed that another demon was approaching the clearing. His energy signature was the same as the one I felt outside the living room window the other night and was slightly stronger than my own, and equal to Suichi.

The owner of the voice jumped down from atop the bamboo stalks and landed between Suichi and Kuwabara. I hoped I only showed a slight look of surprise upon seeing him the first time, but I had imagined someone with a voice like that to be, well, taller. Not that I had much room to talk myself. He was barely two inches taller than me, if you didn't count his hair anyway, which was blue-black, spiky, and stood a good 4 inches with a few white highlights mixed within his bangs around his face. He had a white headband tied across his forehead. He wore a blue muscle shirt, black pants, boots, and had a katana strapped to his side.

This was obviously the swordsman Suichi spoke of.

What struck me most, however, were his eyes. They were a deep crimson red. I had only seen eyes that color in demons, but even then I hadn't met too many demons with that eye color. They were emotionless save for an expression of annoyance playing at his features.

All in all, he made for an imposing figure. He had that kind of "bad-boy" vibe that would probably make most girls swoon. But most girls would likely be too scared to.

I scoffed inwardly at the thought. He wasn't the worst-looking guy I'd ever seen, but I wasn't about to let anything distract me from my training. I was not ready to give up years of independence over silly teenage fantasies.

His gaze, or rather, his glare shook me from my thoughts. I thought his eyes would burn holes straight through me. I shuddered inwardly.

"Kurisa," Suichi interrupted the obvious tension. "This is Hiei. He is part of the team…"

"Get it straight, fox. This is merely a temporary alliance." Hiei turned his glare toward Suichi and I remembered at that point to breathe.

"Yes, of course, Hiei." Suichi said with a slight smirk. I was confused.

At that point, Hiei turned his gaze back to me. His eyes roved over me, analyzing me. I did not like it much. I turned my gaze toward my brother. He and Kuwabara were now sparring. Kuwabara was using his spirit sword against Suichi's rose whip. He blocked the whip's movements well, but he never got any solid hits against my brother either.

"I have been asked by the foolish toddler to aid in your training. Understand, human, I do this because I have no choice. I do not babysit." His eyes narrowed more with each word. His soft voice laced with barely contained irritation.

However, I was no pushover. I returned his glare. "I understand clearly. I'll have you know, this is hardly my first run in with demons. I have fought to survive and have been pursued my entire life. In my opinion, the fact that I'm still here shows that I'm no weakling."

"Hn, I can barely sense your energy. Anything you may have experienced is nothing in comparison to what I have faced, girl. Hold your tongue, and listen to what I tell you. I will not tolerate disobedience or interruptions."

He pulled two small objects from his belts. He took one in each hand and twirled them with his fingers. He held a pair of kukris with black and red leather strapped hilts and bronze colored ornate blades.

"Here, girl. A gift from the toddler." Hiei threw the kukris straight at me! They flipped end on end. What happened next shocked even me. As if I had done it a million times before, I caught both blades in my hands by the hilts. They felt comfortable in my hands, like they belonged.

"What do you do when your total energy is spent? What happens when your hand-to-hand is useless? Do you lay down in defeat?" Hiei paced in front of me and for the first time in his presence I had to smile. He reminded me of a drill sergeant.

"On the other hand, what can you do when wasting your energy at the start of a fight is not the wisest plan? Will you act like an idiot and waste precious energy? No. Your weapons should always be ready and at your disposal." Hiei finished his speech. His eyes shone with malice, a smirk planted firmly on his face.

"Attack me." He spoke. No emotion was visible on his face, suddenly.

"What?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Last I checked, your hearing was fine. I said, attack me, girl." His eyes had narrowed slightly.

"Fine, you asked for it." I replied. I had never fought a battle using any kind of weapon before, and yet I knew what to do.

I held my kukris blade side down, and charged him. I did not see him pull his katana until it was almost too late. I barely dodged in time. A slight cut in my t-shirt was the only indication of my slower senses. Damn he was fast!

I slid to a stop behind him. He turned to face me as I attacked again. This time I blocked his blade with my own, and swung with my other blade to make the hit. What I didn't guess was that my lack of good stance left me off balance, he turned his blade upward, throwing me off my footing. I hit the ground. Hiei took a proper stance, his katana held in front of his torso. He waited for me to get to my feet. That surprised me. He fought with honor. That was something rarely seen in demons and certainly something I could respect.

I rose to my feet and mimicked his stance. I found myself better balanced than before, and when I rushed him again I felt much stronger.

I delved a bit into my martial arts training when working on my footing. When he tried to throw me off my next block I stayed upright. I swung my kukris yet again, this time I made a fairly sizeable cut in his shirt. I had not expected to actually hit him, his dodging was too good. Had I been facing an equal or weaker opponent, it would have been a substantial hit.

I was exhausted and out of breath. We had been training for most of the day by now.

"We start back this time tomorrow. We shall work more on stances and weapon skill." Hiei had barely broken a sweat all day. 'Damn him' I thought as he quickly flitted away.


	4. Chapter 4 The Tournament

A new follower, favoriter, and all these views? You guys are great. So heres another chapter :)

Ch. 4:

* * *

Six weeks of training passed by more quickly than any of us expected. My sister grew stronger with each passing day. Her evenings were spent outside sparring against random trees and summoning her elemental energy.

I may not have always agreed with Hiei's teaching tactics, but I could not deny it was effective. I noticed that he had somehow sparked within her a desire to prove herself.

Kurisa had learned several new techniques during her training. One day during a sparring match against me and my rose whip, she went to dodge an attack but was left off balance. In desperation, she summoned up a pretty powerful shield of fire, which shot up around her like a dome. Her flames had actually singed my rose whip, and I believe that any prolonged contact would have burned my whip completely.

Soon after, she was able to create shields from each element. Depending on the strength of her shield, they could deflect both physical and energy attacks and she could hold them intact for as long as she needed.

Kurisa had progressed just as well with Hiei.

"Pathetic." Hiei scoffed at Kurisa after a particularly difficult training session. "I would have thought you would have progressed further by now."

"What do you mean? I can fight with my kukris skillfully…"

"Fool. I have been holding back, just barely staying slightly above your skill level. If I ever fought you at my full strength you wouldn't last two minutes. You may have progressed by some amount but you are still weak and pathetic."

Kurisa stared down toward the ground. Her expression was anger mixed with a hint of…sadness? Her body shook slightly.

She looked back up, meeting Hiei's eyes. Her own eyes narrowed and I was sure my acute hearing picked up the sound of a slight growl escaping her lips.

She charged Hiei once more. She went for a skillful swipe with one of her blades at his face, which he blocked easily.

"You are fighting angry. Cast away your foolish human emotions, they only hold you back."

Suddenly, her kukris started to glow with the same lilac aura that normally surrounded her body when her energy flared. I watched as her blades coated themselves in a thick sheet of ice. She charged once more. After several attempted blows and blocks on both sides, her energy increasing as she got more emotional, she finally landed a blow against Hiei. One of her kukris made contact with his torso. It was not a serious hit only because neither would be aiming for killing blows. His eyes betrayed a widened look of surprise as he fell to the ground. She pinned him to the ground and set her blade to his throat.

"Not bad, girl. It seems I may have to go a bit harder on you now." He said with a slight smirk as Kurisa held him down. I was sure she could let him rise, but I believe she was savoring the moment of actually besting one of her mentors. "We will continue to work on pulling your elemental energy into your blades. Doing so seems to greatly increase your abilities."

Yes, she had improved greatly. More than even she had yet realized. Her energy level was equivalent to that of a lower B-class demon. She was now at a level that I felt confident that she could hold her own for a while. Our team would leave for the dark tournament the next day. It would be the first time I would be away from my sister for so long since I had found her.

Soon after my arrest by the spirit detective and after aiding him in the battle against the saint beasts, I was given a special side mission by Koenma. Koenma knew I could use my skills as an expert thief to locate the target of the mission. I was asked to locate and bring to spirit world a young human girl. She had the potential to be a powerful psychic and Koenma feared that she might be in danger due to her powers. The mission was made a priority when previous attempts to find the girl proved unsuccessful. Of course what we learned after she was found explained the difficulty spirit world had in finding her.

I was grateful that I was able to locate her, and not a moment too soon.

"Suichi." My sister approached, breaking me out of my wandering thoughts, and took a seat next to me on the sofa. "You guys leave tomorrow, right?"

"Yes we do. Do not worry. Your time to join us will be soon after our arrival to the island. We are having you accompany the girls to make sure they are safe."

"The girls? You mean Keiko and Shizuru?"

"Yes, and Botan as well. She may be our resident grim reaper, but she is still vulnerable."

"Do Keiko and Shizuru know then?" She asked.

"Not yet, but they aren't blind. They know something is up." I explained. She gave me a slightly confused look, but decided not to press the issue.

"I have to ask." Kurisa spoke up quietly. I could tell something was pressing on her mind. "You seem to be, well, closer to Hiei than anyone else I have seen…"

I thought of my words carefully. I knew this topic would come up eventually.

"One could say that…"

"He seems to listen to you, even when you say something to put him in his place, or even when you ask him to do something. He may act begrudgingly about it, he may even act like he isn't listening or even downright act rude, but he listens." She said. I got the gist of what she was trying to say.

"Hiei's behavior is just the way he normally is. You need to keep in mind that his actions speak much louder than his words. He is notorious for saying one thing, but deep inside really meaning another. Reading between the lines of his comments is usually the best way to understand him. He is highly inexperienced in dealing with social situations, so his rude and scathing remarks are just his way of dealing with new situations."

"I have explained to you about my past and my arrest. Well lets just say Hiei also has a bit of a criminal history as well, though his reasons are much different from mine. The full extent of his past is not my tale to tell, but it holds true that the events of our past tend to shape our present and future."

"And as for why he listens to me? He holds a certain amount of respect for me due to my Yoko side. Lets just say the king of thieves tends to command a certain amount of respect from even the most powerful apparitions."

"I think I can understand that. All of it. That helps a lot, thank you." She smiled at that point. We said our good nights as she made her way upstairs to her bedroom. She was an observant and perceptive girl, I was sure she would figure out much from my words.

* * *

Poor Botan. I was really glad at this point that I was not her.

It had to be tough being ganged up on by two teenage girls hell-bent on getting any information they could. Then again if someone I knew was hiding something about Suichi with him at risk I would be angry too.

The boys had been gone barely two days, and already they knew something was up. I watched, half-amused, as Botan finally cracked under the pressure and explained everything, even about the three worlds, demons, and the supernatural.

It seemed to be too much for Keiko to handle. She fainted. I ran over and caught her right before she hit the floor.

"Am I right in assuming you knew about all this, too, Kurisa?" Shizuru asked me. Her expression was almost bored but I could tell she was fuming inside.

"I did, but please know it was not my place to tell." I explained. "We will go and join the guys and watch the tournament. I stayed behind to accompany you all. I don't doubt your guts or your abilities, but against a stadium full of demons you cannot be too safe."

"Stadium full of demons, a corrupt tournament hosted by crime lords? Sounds like fun." Shizuru replied calmly. "Lets go, I'm sure the boys will be missing us."

Keiko chose this moment to wake up. "You and Botan will take us to this tournament right?" She asked me, looking concerned.

I hushed Botan's protests with a glare. "Of course." I said, casting her a reassuring smile, though I, too, was just as concerned.

* * *

Keiko, Botan, Shizuru, and I finally arrived on Hanging Neck Island. The trip had been quite uneventful. The passenger boats were crammed full of leering, ugly demons, but just mere glares from Shizuru and I were enough to make them think twice about starting any trouble.

By the time we arrived, however, the first match was about to start. I heard the announcement over the loudspeaker paging "Team Urameshi" to the ring.

"We need to find a way in, guys." I said. The others agreed. That's when we spotted, to our surprise, Koenma with his ogre assistant, George.

I could tell it was Koenma, but he was older! A teenager! But he still had the pacifier in his mouth. Lovely. His expression was slightly annoyed as he turned to Botan.

"Did you have to tell them?" He asked, exasperated.

"She didn't have much choice." I spoke up for her. "She kind of got ganged up on." I explained, still amused.

After an exchange of tickets, we were on our way to our seats. Koenma, followed by the ogre, made his way to the VIP box, saying something bout how he was royalty and was not expected to share air with demons. I rolled my eyes as I followed the others to the stands.

We found the least ugly and smelly section of bench possible, and took our seats, right in the middle of Kuwabara fighting his first match with…I checked my program…Rinku of team Rikuyukai.

I glanced down at the sideline. Hiei and Suichi were there of course. And Yusuke? Yusuke was asleep? Was he crazy?!

I focused my attention on the match. I was somewhat impressed, Kuwabara was actually using a bit of strategy against the kid, but he was taking a beating as well. Kuwabara's speed was equal to that of Rinku, and he was tracking Rinku's energy with ease.

When Rinku kicked Kuwabara in the head, knocking him out momentarily, Keiko hid her eyes, Shizuru was smoking one cigarette after another in a nervous habit, and Botan looked quite concerned. I stayed silent and watched intently, willing him to rise before the ten count.

Kuwabara finally got to his feet and the match continued. Rinku introduced his serpent yo yos, and Kuwabara had a difficult time dodging the yo yo attacks. At one point Kuwabara was held in midair by Rinku's yo yos. As he dropped to the earth, he summoned his spirit sword, which broke his fall and propelled him forward like a pole vault. Both fighters released their respective weapons, Kuwabara demonstrating excellent control of his sword's snaking movements. Both weapons, however, made solid hits and both fighters were thrown from the ring. Rinku stepped back in the ring first, clearly injured. Kuwabara got back up too, but Rinku manipulated the yo yo strings still wrapped around his wrists and ankles, binding him and keeping him outside the ring for the ten count.

"Damn, well at least he tried his best." I said. Shizuru merely huffed. Keiko was still silent. And Botan…where was Botan!

I spotted her below next to the ring, wearing an entirely new outfit. How many clothes did this girl pack with her?

She slapped Yusuke's sleeping form around a few times until Hiei told her it was no use. She resigned herself to the fact she couldn't wake him and dragged him away from the action.

Next to fight was…Kurama. Oh dear. I knew my brother was more than capable of holding his own in a fight, but that didn't mean I enjoyed watching.

I growled loudly when Suichi's opponent unveiled his one and only technique. He held up a device with a red button, claiming that if my brother tried to fight back, he would press the button and his brother on the other side would kill our mother!

"That is such a dirty trick!" Shizuru yelled. I stood to make my way to the ring myself, but Shizuru and Keiko caught me and held me back.

"You can't kid. Believe me, I get it, but you would be doing Kurama and the team a disservice by interfering." Shizuru said.

Keiko continued. "Kurama is smart. He will think of a way around this, don't worry."

I settled back down on the bench, but I was still far from reassured.

Suddenly, Suichi stepped forward and snatched the device from his opponent's hand. I was sure in my anger I had missed some important points.

All of a sudden, stalks of thorns and flowers burst from every body part and cavity of the demon who threatened our mother. He fell to the ground, very much dead.

I smirked. I'd heard of that technique before. At some point, Suichi had implanted a death plant seed within his body, and merely bided his time before making the plant blossom. It was a messed up way to die, but for that creep, it was perfect.

I felt much better seeing my brother walk from the ring in one piece. He glanced up to our section of the stands and shot me a thumbs-up. I knew then that everything with our mother was fine.

A fighter from the other team, a muscular demon with spiky blond hair named Zeru charged his energy. He was a fire apparition, and his control of his element was expert.

Our teams own resident fire demon stood impatiently at ringside, moody as ever, and as Zeru shot his flames in a good attempt at intimidation, Hiei simply smirked.


	5. Chapter 5 Dragons and Suspicions

A big thanks to all my readers and followers, so here is the next chapter!

Ch. 5:

* * *

Both fighters entered the ring next. Hiei vs. Zeru, and the charge of energy I felt crackling in the ring at this point was immense. I looked over at Keiko and Shizuru beside me and I was starting to get nervous for their safety for the first time. This was the other reason why I had come to this tournament. Suichi knew that the girls would find out, and wanted me here to protect them.

Zeru released flames from his body, which flared so high and so far the fire started to travel into the stands. I flared my own energy and created a wind shield powerful enough to blow any flames away from our area.

I glanced down at the sideline. I couldn't believe that Yusuke was still asleep through all this! The guy was determined.

Suddenly Zeru started shooting fireballs toward Hiei. He dodged them with ease. Hiei wasn't fighting at his full strength yet, so I could still follow his movements. But so could Zeru.

Each time a fireball missed it would hit the stands behind. I checked my shield to find it was still strong.

At one point I actually heard Hiei say he was bored! Really?! Apparently Zeru agreed with me as he started channeling his heat and flames within his body. His skin started to glow bright red like a bad sunburn at first. By the time he was finished he resembled a hot poker.

Zeru rushed forward with a glowing hot fist at the ready. I knew that Hiei would dodge, but I was wrong. I'm not sure if Hiei had underestimated his opponent, or if Zeru really was that much stronger than him, but Zeru's fist made contact with Hiei's abdomen with such force that he punched his fist straight through his body!

Hiei flew through the air, flames engulfing him. I looked on in horror. I couldn't believe this was going to be the end of one of my teachers. Yes, he may have been a complete asshole most of the time, but I had learned so much from him and it did not go unappreciated.

Keiko and Shizuru also looked on, horrified. They, too, knew Hiei was a strong fighter and to see him bested like this was, well, wrong.

Zeru shot another fireball at Hiei, which too engulfed him in an even hotter fire as he landed on the ground, seemingly charred and looking quite defeated.

Zeru commented about how weak his opponent had been. Koto complimented Zeru's techniques as he turned and began to leave the ring.

Suddenly, the sky darkened and changed color from the usual blue to a brilliant pinkish, red. I felt quite creeped out.

"Yes, he's so talented I'm reluctant to make the kill." Hiei's voice spoke. Even though I'd heard him speak before, I shuddered in fear at his tone now. His voice was sinister and smooth, like poisoned honey. Even Zeru shook with dread.

The flames engulfing Hiei now were quite different. They almost seemed to be healing him. I think at this point Zeru figured out why his fire hadn't harmed Hiei, but of course it was much too late.

The flames burned off Hiei's white bandana, and what I saw made me shout out in surprise. Under the bandana was a third eye! I hadn't known he had that! It glowed with a different color from his other two eyes, and I knew then it wasn't a natural eye, it was an implanted Jagan eye. Jagan eyes were supposed to give the bearer great power. Telepathy and mind control were standard, but the type of increased powers depended on the type and abilities of the demon who used it.

"Dragon of the darkness flame!" Hiei shouted. I hadn't thought it possible, but I was even more shocked. I had only read about this technique in books, never had I known anyone alive today could attempt it. I knew the dragon of the darkness flame was a dark fire dragon of the underworld summoned using your own energy as bait to lure it to the surface. It was incredibly dangerous as that it was more likely than not to take the hook along with the bait so-to-speak.

Everyone in this stadium was vulnerable. The dragon was almost impossible to control, and could likely swallow everyone in sight, and I knew I had no protective shields to withstand it.

Before I could advise to the girls to get out of the arena, Hiei shot his right arm forward, a great black flaming dragon shooting forward out of his arm. The dragon hit Zeru full on, and by the time the dragon hit the opposite wall Zeru was completely incinerated, a black outline on the wall was all that remained.

I sighed in relief as the dragon dissipated, apparently satisfied with its one victim, and I lowered myself back to the bench overwhelmed. I couldn't believe he actually pulled it off.

After seeing their team leader incinerated before them, the remaining two fighters fled, leaving Rinku by himself. Punches could be heard just out of sight of the ring, and a tall, muscular guy with a blue mohawk carried his two comrades back into the arena, but they were clearly dead. This guy was strong. He killed his teammates with quick ease without a flare of his energy. I checked my program again. This new guy was the team alternate, Chu. He had a thick Australian accent, which I found strange that a demon spoke with an accent from human world. And he was drunk…very drunk.

Those on our team seemed to be in a state of confusion. No one could decide who would fight next, and the masked fighter certainly wasn't volunteering. At that point we all realized someone was missing. Where was Yusuke?

Yusuke suddenly appeared in the ring. "Waking to the smell of alcohol, I can't help but feel at home." I rolled my eyes.

After a moment of confusion, it was revealed that Chu was actually the team leader but became the alternate after losing at rock, paper, scissors. I had to laugh. I actually liked this guy.

The match finally started. Both were throwing punches but nothing too serious. It seemed they were merely sizing each other up. Chu's movements were interesting. They were erratic, but I could also tell there was great skill to them. He occasionally drank from a flask, and each time he did I could sense his power increase. It seemed to me that I had read about this fighting style before, but couldn't quite place it.

At one point Chu displayed great speed by punching Yusuke five times in the stomach then leaping in the air and punching him again to the ground. The only reason I knew it happened was from the slo-mo replay, I only saw one punch!

After trading quite a few blows, both knew they were getting nowhere. Yusuke started charging his energy into his index finger for a spirit gun, but when he shot his bullet he missed Chu completely and his energy bullet hit the stands on the opposite side. Why would he waste his one bullet!

"My spirit gun. Get to know it. I can fire four of these a day where I used to fire only one." Yusuke said. He was playing fair by demonstrating his signature technique before using it. Who would have pegged him as the honorable type?

Chu explained that he too had a signature technique, and opened up a new flask. "Inside this flask is the strongest alky ever made. Its called ogre killer." Koto explained that one sip could really mess you up.

Chu downed the entire flask in one gulp. His energy flared stronger than ever before, and I could feel him charge his energy to form a new technique. Suddenly, however, Chu's face turned green, and covering his mouth, he ran to the side of the ring and threw up! The girls and I nearly fell over in shock. Was that his technique?

When Chu got back up, he looked almost sober, but the energy signature I got from him and his aura were stronger than before. He powered up a ball of energy that looked similar to Yusuke's spirit gun. Yusuke then powered up and shot his gun right as Chu fired his energy ball. Both connected and canceled each other out.

Both fighters charged up their techniques. This time Chu put everything he had into his energy ball and shot it toward Yusuke. The ball was easily twice the size of him!

Yusuke shot a double spirit gun, which blew through Chu's energy ball. Both energy weapons made seemingly solid hits and when the dust cleared, neither fighter could be seen.

Just as I started to think both had finished the other off, both fighters landed back inside the ring. They were slightly frazzled and shirtless, but otherwise unharmed.

"So, who won?" Asked Shizuru.

"Neither of them yet, it seems." I replied.

"Is it a draw then?" Keiko asked me.

"No, this match decides everything. Neither fighter is going to submit to a draw now." I said, wondering how the guys were going to decide this one. Both fighters were clearly spent on energy.

"How about we decide this with a good old fashioned knife edge death match." Said Chu in his strong Aussie drawl. He held up two knives and stuck them point first in the ring about four feet apart. Chu then explained the rules.

"The edge of that knife is the edge of your world. Step beyond that knife and its sudden death. No weapons, no energy. We fight with our bodies to the death."

Keiko clearly looked scared at this point. I placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Yusuke is a strong fighter. He is at least evenly matched to Chu. He will get through this like every time before." I knew how she felt. It was just as difficult for her to watch Yusuke fight as it was for me to watch Suichi fight.

At first the tournament committee ruled against the death match, but a moment later the decision was repealed. The demons in the stands around us were getting quite rowdy indeed.

Several low class demons sitting near us started commenting that they should visit the snack bar, and started leering toward where we sat. I glared at them. Perhaps they needed a deterrent.

I calmly and quickly charged up my lightning energy. Dark clouds started swirling around above the stadium. Five demons started to charge our way and I summoned bolts of lightning from the sky. All five demons, plus the unfortunate demon bystanders near them, were instantly incinerated by my lightning. Everyone else in our section of the stands were quiet as a mouse after that. I smirked.

"Damn, that was cool." Shizuru commented, still smoking her cigarette.

I looked down toward the sidlines. Both Suichi and Hiei were looking up towards our section. I saw Hiei shrug then turn away and I could imagine in my mind his shrug was probably followed by a 'Hn.' I could see Suichi give the smallest of grins before turning around as well.

Finally, the committee ruled in favor of the match, and both fighters began trading punches, neither of them moving their foot away from the edge of the blade behind them. This went on for several minutes. I had to admit, it was a beautiful display of hand-to-hand combat. Something only a true fellow fighter could really appreciate.

After several minutes more, Keiko started shaking. "I can't watch anymore! Why doesn't someone stop them! He's going to die! Yusuke!" She cried out. I went to try to calm her down, but then Shizuru said something really dumb.

"Well it wouldn't be the first time, would it?" She said under her breath, but we all heard it.

Keiko threw Shizuru a glare that would have made Hiei go pale, and she ran from the stands to the back hallways. I followed Shizuru as we ran after her, Shizuru shouting the whole way that she was sorry.

After a moment of running we lost Keiko. Shizuru sighed muttering about how she put her foot in her mouth.

"You try and find Keiko, kid. I'll be fine here." She told me. I nodded and ran after Keiko's faint energy signature. Keiko may be a human with average levels of energy, but everyone had energy to recognize and track regardless of strength.

Her energy signal led outside toward the ring. I stood at the opening to the arena and saw Keiko standing between Kuwabara and Suichi, Keiko begging Kuwabara to step in and stop the fight.

"I owe it to Urameshi and to all of us not to step in now. We have no choice but to fight, Keiko." Kuwabara explained to her.

After watching Chu and Yusuke trade a few more punches, it was clear that the fight would soon end.

Suddenly, Yusuke and Chu both went for a head butt. Their foreheads collided and it was Chu who fell, unconscious. Yusuke was declared the winner. Chu asked Yusuke to finish him off but he refused, saying they would fight another day. Chu smiled and allowed himself to be helped out from the ring.

Shizuru appeared next to me, cigarette in hand. Yusuke, the masked fighter, Kuwabara, Botan, Suichi, Keiko, and Hiei made their way inside and I ran up and hugged them all. Hiei tensed up big time when I hugged him briefly and I made my way down the line. The masked fighter didn't allow a hug but accepted a pat on the shoulder. I got big bear hugs from Yusuke and Kuwabara and a much gentler hug from my brother.

"I'm so happy you guys are okay." I told them. We all made our way to the hotel, much in need of a good, long rest.

* * *

The next morning I woke to find that no one was even in their respective rooms! Where was everyone?

I showered and dressed in a simple black tank top and shorts, pulled my hair up into its usual long braid, and made my way downstairs. I found Keiko and Shizuru minus Botan in the lobby, taking full advantage of the complimentary breakfast bar. I made myself a plate with eggs, bacon, and waffles and decided to join them.

"So, where's Botan at?" I asked them, sitting down and shoving a fork full of scrambled eggs in my mouth.

"Not sure. We woke to find everyone else was already gone. You were still asleep so we came down to breakfast."

I looked around the lobby, assessing my surroundings. My senses were going haywire since I knew there were demons galore in this hotel, but I still checked to make sure there was no danger. At the breakfast bar I happened to see the ring announcer, Koto, making herself a plate, then looking around to see which table looked the least menacing.

"Mind If I sit here?" Koto asked us.

"Not at all." I said, offering her the empty seat beside me.

"That was a very impressive technique by the way. Summoning a lightning storm to take out that many demons at once, are you human or an apparition?"

"Human, we all are here."

"I would be careful. I have been an announcer to this tournament for many years, and I have seen some corrupt trickery both in and out of the ring, but the committee seems to be really out for blood when it comes to your team. Yusuke Urameshi is your team leader and spirit detective. The committee all agree they want to see him and those who aid him taken down. Koenma as well."

"But why?" I asked.

"The committee suspects that Yusuke is responsible for the death of Gonzo Tarukane, a highly respected crime lord among his fellows and was found dead moments after the spirit detective team left his premises."

I thought back to the mission Suichi told me he had been on right before I was found. It was to save an ice maiden kidnapped by this same Tarukane. I knew that Yusuke and his team did not kill him. Yusuke may have no issues with killing demons if he must but he would not kill another human.

"I don't know if he did or didn't, nor is it my place to judge." Koto continued. "But all the same, be careful. Now that the committee knows that his team may stand a chance, I wouldn't be surprised that the tricks and cheating start."

"Thanks for the warning Koto, I'll be sure to pass it on."

"Anyway, good luck tomorrow. Your team faces the Dr. Ichigaki team in the morning."

We finished our breakfast in silence. The girls went back to the room. I decided to set out to find my brother. I needed to tell him about this new development.


	6. Chapter 6 Warnings and Revelations

Thank you to my new follower, so a new chapter all around!

Ch. 6:

* * *

I Searched for Suichi all day, but did not find him nor anyone else on the team for that matter. Even using my heightened senses failed me. The guys were masking their energy well.

I spent the rest of the day training and strengthening my elemental shields, and working on combining elemental attacks. I found only certain combinations would work. Fire and lightning and water and lightning seemed to be strong combinations. Fire and ice or fire and water canceled each other out, of course. But I knew that the extent of my power was limited only by the natural properties of that particular element.

I went to bed early that evening. I had used a great deal of energy training myself.

I awoke the morning of the fight yet again to an empty hotel room. Jeez, didn't anyone think of leaving notes? Or setting alarms? I checked my watch on the bedside table. It was still an hour until the start of the match. I dressed quickly and ran downstairs and outside. I needed to find someone from the team and give them Koto's warning.

After a short while of strolling through the woods around the hotel, I finally picked up a familiar energy.

It was Hiei. He was just walking down the path in front of me, shirtless, his katana at the ready. But something was off about the way he walked.

"Hiei! Thank goodness I found someone. Look, yesterday I ran into Koto in the hotel and…" Hiei turned and I jumped back in shock with a gasp.

Most of his entire right arm was charred and blackened!

"Oh Hiei! You didn't come out as unscathed from that dragon as I thought. Why don't you let someone heal you?" I reached out for his arm, purely by instinct. I had no clue what I could do for his injury, anyway.

Predictably, he pulled his arm back out of my reach, his teeth slightly bared and his usual glare plastered to his face.

"Leave it alone, girl, it's of no concern of yours." He growled. I lowered my hand to my side. His injured arm looked terrible. It looked like it was blackened and dead, but I could see him wince slightly in pain.

"The fact that you feel pain in your arm is actually a good thing. It means it's not completely beyond healing."

His growl increased in volume. Usually, he was more tolerant than this of my presence, but apparently he was more affected by pain than he let on, it made him grumpier than usual.

"I said it's not your concern, stupid girl!"

"Fine, whatever. Just know I'm only trying to help. I hate to see any of my friends in pain." I walked away, not even looking back.

I made my way toward the stadium, lost in thought. I tried so hard to be civil with Hiei. I tried very hard to be on at least friendly terms with him, but it was not easy. A few months ago if a demon had spoken to me like that, I would have blasted him with a lightning bolt so fast _my_ head would have spun.

Suichi was a special case. He was the first demon I ever grew to trust. I accepted him as my brother and family. It was such an easy transition that it felt natural. It was even so easy to forget that Suichi was really a demon. It wasn't until I met him that I learned that just because one may be born a demon doesn't make them inherently evil.

I had to remember that Hiei had reasons for being the way he was. I didn't know the details, but I knew he had a very rough past, possibly bad enough to rival my own. For the time being I just had to not let his words cut too deeply and just try to be understanding. It was easier said than done sometimes, however.

I hadn't realized how long I had wandered, but it was now getting close to mid-afternoon. I swiftly kicked myself mentally for letting him bother me so much and I started making my way to the stadium. I arrived in time to see an image of Hiei and the masked fighter on the jumbo-tron outside the stadium. They were in some kind of force field. Hiei was flexing his right arm and fingers with greater ease. Normal color was starting to return to his arm. The force field had some kind of super healing properties it seemed.

The camera panned to Kuwabara. He was fighting his match and he looked hurt and very battered up.

"Oh no, he's hurt!" A soft, delicate voice spoke. I looked to my left and a young girl with sea green hair tied with a red bow about my height wearing a light blue kimono stood a few feet beside me. She stared intently at the screen, her face showing obvious concern each time my team appeared on screen.

"Do you know them?" I asked the girl.

"Yes, I do. They are part of a group who saved me a few months ago." She replied.

"Oh, I heard about that! You must be Yukina." I gave her a reassuring smile. "And don't worry, these guys are strong fighters, they always find a way to win."

"So you know them too?" She asked me. It was a fair question.

"Oh yes. I'm Kurama's sister, Kurisa. Its great to finally meet you." I said, using Suichi's proper demon name. It wasn't that I didn't trust Yukina, but I didn't trust the leering demons standing around us at the time.

Her smile was infectious, and it was when she turned to look at me that I was taken aback by her eyes. They were the same shape and color as Hiei's, a brilliant crimson red. As a matter of fact, her facial structure was the same as his, as well. If her hair had been black one could say they were identical.

But wait, she was an ice maiden, right? And even though not much was known about ice apparitions, it was known that only females are born to their kind once every 100 years in a form of asexual reproduction. Baby boys only happened if an ice maiden has sexual relations with a male at the time of their 100 year cycle, but boys born of these trysts never reach beyond their first day of life. Elders of their clan would have these infants killed to keep their line pure. It was disgusting, in my opinion.

It was practically unheard of for an ice maiden to leave their floating island home, so why was she even here in the first place?

"There you are, Kurisa we were worried!" I heard Botan shout from a line of bushes surrounding the stadium. I raised an eyebrow as Keiko and Shizuru followed her out.

"Hey, you wouldn't share a toilet with a demon now would you?" Botan said in their defense. I giggled. She had a point.

"I may be going out on a limb here, but are you Yukina?" Shizuru asked Yukina. She nodded meekly. "Only I have a little bro who wont shut up about you."

"Oh so you must be Kazuma's sister! Nice to meet you." I was quite impressed. An ice apparition taking an interest in a human male? Perhaps Yukina was not your average ice maiden.

"So you must be here to cheer for the team, Kuwabara especially?" Botan asked.

"Yes, I've even brushed up on my healing abilities, I hope they will be useful to you." Yukina answered. She seemed so sweet, innocent, and likeable.

"But I confess that is not the only reason I'm here. I'm also here to look for my brother." My eyes widened in surprise, hopefully not too obviously. "I can feel him nearby."

"Surely he wouldn't be too hard to find?" Keiko asked. Botan had the strangest look on her face at that moment. "Do you have a photo or a letter from him to go by?"

"I'm afraid I don't. All I know is he's rumored to be a skilled fighter and martial artist." Yukina said, lowering her eyes sadly to the ground.

I knew what this meant. Yukina's mother had likely birthed twins. One boy, one girl. The boy was likely cast away by the elders of her clan, either left for dead or believed to be dead, but somehow, she had found out her brother had survived. That would make him the only male Koorime in existence, or at least he would be part Koorime.

"Of course we will help you!" Shizuru told Yukina. Shizuru then turned and whispered something I didn't quite catch in Botan's ear. I gave them both a strange look.

"Well lets get inside before we miss the fight." I said as we made our way to the entrance. Even though we had the right number of tickets, the guard still wouldn't let us enter. So Shizuru did the only logical thing in this situation.

"Did you HAVE to punch him out?" I yelled as we all ran. We were being chased by several armed security guards at that point.

"Yup." Shizuru said. We kept running until Shizuru fell behind and was caught by our pursuers. I told everyone else to keep running toward the ring while I thought of a way to free my friend. I looked in the opposite direction and my heart nearly stopped.

On one side were several armed demon security guards holding Shizuru hostage. On the other side was Toguro! We were freaking screwed!

Yukina's entire body shook with fright. I had nearly forgotten that Toguro was one of those who tortured her and held her captive. I let my energy charge to life and crackle all around us. It was a way to comfort my friends and give a warning to our enemies.

Sakyo, the owner of team Toguro and notorious crime lord made his way over to where we stood. I was glaring daggers at everyone at this point. Sakyo glanced at each of us in turn and then looked for a much longer time at Shizuru.

"Let her go." Sakyo said to the guards. "She's with me."

The guards immediately let Shizuru go with an apology to Sakyo. Toguro told us all to run along. I gave Shizuru an odd look as she lingered near Sakyo as the rest of us took off toward the stands. Shizuru was a smart girl and she could take care of herself, but something about that Sakyo character just rubbed me the wrong way, somehow.

I made my way to ringside as the girls found a place front row of the stands. I ran straight to my brother.

"You have no clue what I have been through today! I've been trying to find someone on this team to talk to for two days! Wait. What in the blue hell happened to you!" I shouted. Suichi was cut from head to toe with multiple bruises, and one of his death plant vines was growing out of his cuts!

"I had to grow my death plant within my own body. My first opponent locked my energy inside me, so in order to defeat my next opponent, the only way I could access my energy was to sow the vine inside myself." I stared at him, dumbfounded.

"That could have killed you." I whispered, stunned.

"I'm actually surprised that it didn't." He smirked.

"So I assume you guys already figured out what I've been trying to warn you about." I began.

"Cheating and tricks by the committee? Yes. But as of why? I'm not sure."

"They think Yusuke had something to do with Tarukane's death." I told him.

"As I was the one who had to make sure Hiei didn't kill Tarukane himself, I can assure you that Yusuke had nothing to do with it." Suichi replied.

"I know he didn't. It's not like Yusuke to kill a human no matter how horrible a crime they committed. And you had to stop Hiei from killing Tarukane? Why?" I asked, a bit surprised.

"I didn't stop him, Yukina did."

"What?" I asked, eyes wide.

At that point, Kuwabara's match was over, with Kuwabara as the winner. The force field around Hiei and the masked fighter faded, and Hiei had a strange look that I had never seen before on his face. It was surprise mixed with a small amount of fear. And he was staring straight at Yukina.

It clicked at that moment. 2+2 was put together at that point. The physical resemblance coupled with what I knew about the Koorime, what I knew of Yukina's reason for being here, plus added with what little I knew about Hiei and how aggressively he acted toward Tarukane, and it was obvious.

Hiei and Yukina were brother and sister…twins at that! It certainly explained a lot.

I felt physically sick all of a sudden. It clicked for me at that point. Hiei had been through absolute hell in his young life. He was the male child whom the elders of Yukina's clan had attempted to kill and leave for dead at one day old. How anyone could think of doing something like that to a newborn infant was beyond comprehension. And growing up with no family or friends and no love or support could mess anyone up.

He and I both had been rejected and shunned from a very young age only because of what we were born to be. Both of us had to learn from a young age how to protect and care for ourselves.

But at least I always had food on the table and a roof over my head. He likely never had anything guaranteed to him.

I felt I understood him better now. And I only wanted to help him more and would continue working on earning his friendship and trust. Everyone needed a friend to rely on, and if he could talk to someone who had been through a similar situation as he, perhaps that would help him the most.

Suichi must have noticed the look of distressed realization on my face.

"Do not say anything to Yukina." He warned me.

"I was never going to. Hiei doesn't want their relation known does he?" I asked.

"No. Not saying I agree with his reasons. I think he should tell her eventually. But it's his secret alone to tell when he decides he's ready."

"Why does he not want her to know?" I glanced over toward Yukina, She was still at the wall with the girls talking with Kuwabara.

"Simple. He's ashamed." Suichi replied, his face stoic.

"Why? It's not like his upbringing was his fault!" I exclaimed almost a little too loudly.

"I'm aware of that, it's about how I dealt with it." My eyes widened, and so did Suichi's. We both turned around to find Hiei behind us, arms crossed with a very annoyed expression. I was sure he had listened in on my thoughts as my mind put everything together.

"I dealt with it by doing the only thing I knew I was good at. Killing." Hiei said. He still looked irritated, but his eyes were cast downward, and his facial expression had lost some of its hardness.

"I killed for sport, I killed for fun, and I killed because it just felt nice. Killing anyone in my way was stress relief and it kept many potential threats out of my way. Do you think Yukina would really want a brother who is a killer and a felon?" He looked back up, glaring at the two of us once again.

"Believe it or not, Hiei, I get it. You had to protect yourself while deterring any potential threats to you. You had no one to rely on to help you. And yes, inflicting some of the pain you feel yourself on someone else can be great stress relief. I've been there too. I've had to kill to survive in my younger years as well, so I get it." I tried to explain to him.

Hiei just scoffed. "Like you can even begin to understand what I went through."

"Actually, I probably understand better than anyone else you have met. I also know that you learn and grow from your past. You do deserve great things, Hiei. Your past isn't what defines you as a person."

"Hn, right, then what does, little fool?" He remarked before flitting away. I stared off in the direction he left. I could see his expression falter even as he spoke his final words to me. I strongly hoped that he would find peace within himself.


	7. Chapter 7 The Party - Lost

A big thanks to everyone. On to a new chapter!

Ch. 7:

* * *

The next morning was supposed to be a special day, yet it seemed as though nobody remembered, so I started my day in a bad mood.

Yusuke and Keiko had left the room early in the morning for a walk. I didn't really blame them. Both of them deserved to have some time together.

Hiei and Suichi had gone off somewhere. Perhaps to train? But they spoke of watching the next tournament battle later this afternoon to see who the team would face next.

The masked fighter was never in the hotel room it seemed. Did he even sleep?

Even the girls were AWOL this morning. So here I sat at the breakfast bar in the lobby, alone, glaring daggers at a waffle with maple syrup.

"Happy freaking fourteenth birthday to me." I said as I forked a large piece of waffle into my mouth.

"I'm so happy I found someone!" I heard a light female voice speak. "Mind if I join you?" I looked up. It was Yukina. I smiled and offered her a seat.

"I sensed your power yesterday. I found it quite fascinating. You are an elemental master right?" She asked me.

"Yes. I have considerable control over several elements, but I won't claim to be a master quite yet. I know I still have much to learn." I told her.

"So I assume that you haven't mastered light and darkness then?"

"I thought humans couldn't control those particular elements?" I asked her. Where was she going with this?

"Not exactly. More like its unknown if humans can control them." Yukina explained. "I may be an ice apparition, but I have also studied and trained with light energy as well. Basic light energy is used for healing and defensive shielding purposes, while more complicated and powerful light energy can be used in offensive techniques.

"And there is a possibility that I could learn to use light energy?" I asked.

"It's possible. You are strong, but you just don't know how strong yet. May I help you?" Her face was sweet and gentle, but her red eyes bore into me, much like her brothers.

"Of course, may we go ahead and start?" I asked, suddenly enthusiastic. Finally, something to get my mind off my forgotten birthday.

Yukina giggled at my excitement. "Sure, we can start after we watch the next match."

"Sounds great." I said as I finished off the rest of my waffle.

* * *

The next team we had to face really got on my last aching nerve. According to my program, the blue haired imp demon Shishiwakimaru was the team captain.

I thought Yusuke could be an arrogant, cocky bastard at times, but even he was nothing compared to Shishi.

Speaking of Yusuke, I looked up toward the other end of the stands. The entire team were there watching the fight as well. Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Suichi were standing around Hiei and were laughing at him, and Hiei seemed quite pissed off about something. I wished I could be a fly on the wall at that point. I also saw a strange creature sitting on top of Yusuke's head. It was blue, had a beak and long ears, and seemed to have Yusuke's hair.

"What is that thing on Yusuke's head?" I asked Yukina.

"Its his spirit beast that hatched from his egg Koenma gave him, from what I was told. The girls named him Puu."

I was still in an irritable mood at the time, and hadn't realized that my energy was crackling around me ominously, causing the nearby onlookers to move away quickly, as they remembered what had happened the last time I used my powers in the stands.

Then to add to my great mood, Yusuke and the masked fighter got into a blazing argument and left the stadium. None of us had heard any word of them since. I didn't let myself worry about that, though. Yusuke was a big boy and could take care of himself.

But to top off my day, I still couldn't even make so much as a spark of light, no matter how much I concentrated. I was giving myself a headache from trying so hard, but still I didn't even feel a tingle. Yukina and I had decided to go back to the hotel room and begin training.

Yukina even made a ball of light in her hands, and I tried to use my energy to manipulate the already existing light in her hands, but to no avail.

Then I thought that the motivation of seeing an injury I wanted to heal would help break through this block I had with light energy, so I asked Kuwabara if I could attempt to heal his remaining wounds, but try as I might, it still didn't work.

"I'm sorry Yukina." I said, disheartened. "I know I'm probably wasting your time."

"Don't worry about it, really this is just a great chance to get to know a new friend!" Yukina grinned happily. I couldn't help but smile as well, how could you not be anything but happy in her presence?

"And it will come. Trust me. It took time before I could do it as well." That made me feel somewhat better.

Yukina finished healing the worst of Kuwabara's injuries, and then he asked us if we wanted to play a card game. We were so engrossed in our game and good conversation that I almost didn't notice when Suichi and Hiei came back into the room. It had started to storm outside and night was falling fast.

Suichi took a seat on the couch beside me and joined in our game. Hiei took his usual seat in the window sill.

Suddenly, Keiko, Botan, and Shizuru came into the room carrying armloads of drinks and a cake?

"You thought we forgot, didn't you?" Botan asked, excitedly.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Everyone shouted. I smiled, blushed, and held my head in my hands. Hiei just growled, mumbling that he couldn't get a moments peace anywhere surrounded by idiots. I inwardly rolled my eyes.

Shizuru had thought to bring her radio, so we played music while filling ourselves up on cake, playing cards, and chatting excitedly about what the guys would wish for when they won. At one point, Suichi invited Hiei to join us, saying that we were practically a family over here. I openly facepalmed, it was such a bad attempt at a joke. Hiei growled loudly and threatened to rip out Suichi's voice box. Suichi sort of gave up after that.

Suichi and Kuwabara kept thinking up sillier and sillier wishes as the evening wore on. I looked around and noticed that Hiei was the only one in the room not taking part. I knew better than to expect him to fully participate in the party, but now that I knew better, I knew what to do. I put the last remaining piece of cake on to a plate, sighed, and walked over to where he was sitting at the window.

Hiei turned his head and glanced toward me. His expression was hard, unreadable. But he also wasn't glaring at me, which was unusual.

I gave him a sort of gentle half-smile. I held up the piece of cake to him. He just stared.

"The cake is quite good, and sweet. I don't want you to feel left out." I said to him.

He closed his eyes for a moment, almost like he was thinking of something to say. Next thing I knew, he took the plate from me and gave the slightest of nods.

I returned the nod, and returned to my seat on the couch. I got the idea of what he had meant by that gesture, it meant everything that he didn't know how to put into words. I realized then that I wasn't the only one who had started to understand.

* * *

Keiko, Shizuru, Yukina, Botan, and I woke the next day super late. We had stayed up pretty late the previous night partying. In hindsight, it wasn't the greatest idea.

We got dressed quickly. I pulled up my hair in a simple ponytail today instead of my usual braid and threw on the first clothing of mine that I saw, a black spaghetti strap top and a pair of jeans. I washed up quickly in the adjoining bathroom. I looked like crap, but we probably all did. My golden eyes were puffy and tired looking.

Once we got to the lobby Botan was panicking about being so late, but said she knew a shortcut. We had to wait for Keiko and Shizuru. Shizuru stopped to get herself a drink and Keiko had forgotten about Puu.

It was near mid-day before we set out. We walked what seemed forever, and I swear we walked by the same trees and rocks several times over.

"Um, Botan, this shortcut doesn't seem very short." Keiko spoke up.

"Are we lost?" Yukina asked.

"Of course were not lost, we just have to go, um, this way." Botan pointed in two directions at once.

"You have no idea do you?" Keiko asked.

"Lets try finding our way back to the hotel." I suggested.

"Yes maybe then we can make it there by sundown." Said Shizuru, annoyed.

On the way back to the hotel, Puu suddenly went crazy. He had been silently resting in Keiko's arms. He looked sad. But now he was screaming and struggling to get free.

"Let him go, Keiko." I said. "I know you think keeping him right now is best, but I think Yusuke needs him right now."

She squeezed her eyes shut. It was painful for her to let Puu go, but she did. He flew off toward the horizon. I walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"He will be okay. Our little Puu will see to that." I told her. She seemed to take some comfort in that.

We made it back to the hotel a few minutes later and set off down the path we knew went to the stadium. It wasn't long before we found our way through the entrance and into the stands, and when we got there, we looked around in shock.

The stadium was empty.

"Are the fights over already?" Keiko asked.

"Can't be." I said. "They only started an hour ago." I scratched my head, confused.

"Wait, weren't the semi-finals supposed to take place in a new stadium?" Keiko said.

"I think your right!" Piped up Botan. "Now all we have to do is find the new stadium!"

"And do you know where the new stadium is?" Yukina asked.

"Um….maaayybeee?" Botan said, apprehensively.

"This is bad." Keiko said, disheartened.

"If we have to miss any more men beating the crap out of each other I'm going to be very angry, Botan!" Added Shizuru, more annoyed than ever.

"Now Shizuru, let me think I'm sure if we take a moment we can…" Botan started, but was interrupted by a loud yell from high above the stadium. Someone was falling to the arena floor from what looked like some kind of portal opened up in midair. Anyone else would consider that very weird, but nothing much wierded me out anymore.

The person hit the ring with considerable force but looked relatively unharmed. We ran over when we saw who it was.

"Hey Kuwabara! Could you tell us where the new stadium is?" Botan yelled out to him.

"Hey sis!" He shouted out, seeing Shizuru. His eyes roamed to Yukina. "YUKINA! Hey tulip! Did you sense my rocking rhythm and had to follow!" Dear lords, now I wanted to shoot him, I thought, inwardly facepalming.

"Not exactly" Yukina replied softly. "We just got lost on the way to the stadium and went to the wrong one." She smiled up at him, her sweet red eyes sparkling. She had the patience of a saint, I noted.

"So did you guys fall out of the portal thingy too?" Kuwabara asked us with almost childlike excitement.

"What do you mean?" Shizuru asked him with an almost murderous tone, cracking her knuckles. "Are you saying you lost your fight, baby bro?"

"Um, yes?" He looked like an innocent frightened child at that point as he looked at his sister.

Suddenly, Shizuru jumped him and started beating the crap out of him. The rest of us looked on apprehensively.

"OUR LIVES ARE ON THE LINE AND YOU FIGHT LIKE A 5TH GRADER!?" She yelled at him.

"I guess this is how he gets the desire to win so badly." Keiko stated.

"Um, Shizuru? Beat him up anymore and you will actually knock him out, then we definitely won't be able to get to the new stadium." I pointed out. Shizuru let him go. Kuwabara ran over to Yukina asking if she could heal him. I did admit he looked pretty bad off.

Once Kuwabara was healed, we were ready to go. We followed him out of the stadium on the way to the new one, Kuwabara catching us up on the day's matches.

"So Hiei took on two of their fighters in a row? In the shape he's in?" I said in awe. The girls turned to look at me.

"What do you mean 'in the shape he's in'? He seems fine." Keiko asked me.

"You didn't see his right arm up close. He burned it badly attempting the darkness flame. If he ever gains full use of it again I'll be very surprised. And that technique sapped most of his body's energy which I'm sure he hasn't fully regained since." I explained.

Yukina looked thoughtful. "Hiei. He's the quiet one isn't he? The one who wouldn't play cards with us or join in Kurisa's party?"

Kuwabara actually looked quite irritated. "Why are you guys so interested in him? He's scary and he will bite off your head!" He made what was supposed to be a scary face at Yukina.

"Take that back! That is no way to talk of a decent guy!" Botan yelled at Kuwabara.

"Decent guy?"

"Yes, especially since he happens to be Yuk…" Botan paused in mid sentence. I froze, along with Shizuru, who was the only other person in this group who knew the big secret. I watched as Botan's face went from angry, to blank, to mildly disturbed before coming back to her senses and walking off in a daze. I remembered to breathe; she had come within a hair's breath of revealing something she had no place to.

We continued on from there. Kuwabara kept filling us in on what we missed.

"Kurama was awesome in his fight. He was facing this guy who had a whip like him, then the guy used his whip to make this force field thingy, then there was all this smoke. We couldn't see a thing for several minutes."

"Then what happened?" I asked.

"Well this was special smoke and it was supposed to make his opponent young but it didn't work right on Kurama. It made him so young it turned him into his demon form." Kuwabara continued.

"Do what? What do you mean his demon form?" I stopped and glared at Kuwabara.

"Yeah, apparently Kurama is this fox demon trapped in a human body or something. Hiei said something about someone named Yoko. After the fight was over Kurama changed back into Kurama but it was pretty cool to see."

"So his opponent accidentally freed the trapped spirit of Yoko Kurama huh? Wish I had seen that." I said. I was lost in thought. I had read so many stories and legends about Yoko Kurama and his band of thieves. I knew Yoko was a skilled thief but he was also very cold, calculating, and ruthless and would kill without a second thought or care. Pretty much everything that was opposite of the brother I knew. I really hoped that this transformation didn't turn my brother toward a darker side of himself.

We continued on a few minutes more. We could all see the new stadium on the horizon now. A few more minutes of walking and we would finally be there.

Keiko for some reason glanced to the side of the path. Leaning against a tree sound asleep was Yusuke with Puu beside him, also sleeping.


	8. Chapter 8 The Sharpest Lives

I want to thank all my new followers, favoriters, and readers!

Ch. 8:

* * *

"Urameshi!" Kuwabara shouted. We all ran off the path towards Yusuke's sleeping form, but none of us were faster than Keiko. I followed closely behind.

"Is…is he?" Keiko stuttered nervously as she leaned down to listen for vital signs.

"Its alright, Keiko, he's just sleeping." I reassured her. "But what on earth happened to him? There are cuts and scrapes all over him."

"Something painful, but it also made him stronger." Shizuru gazed intently at Yusuke's still form.

"Well we can't leave him here. Come on fatso." Kuwabara said as he grabbed Yusuke and hoisted him up on his shoulder. Keiko picked up Puu and we continued on.

By now the stadium entrance was in clear sight. It was quite an intimidating looking structure. It kind of resembled a giant insect.

Just as we were about to clear the last line of bushes surrounding the stadium, we noticed a bunch of low class demons crowding the entrance.

"Are the fights over already? Those rowdy demon fans always riot when they disagree with the results." Botan looked slightly annoyed.

"I don't think that's it." I said as I pointed to two demons arguing near us.

"What nerve, attacking the crowd like that!"

"I agree. You shouldn't have dragged me here!"

"Well excuse me for wanting to see Genkai meet her end!"

"Did he just say Genkai?" I said, turning toward Yusuke. He was still out cold on Kuwabara's shoulder, that is, until Kuwabara suddenly dropped him into Keiko, almost knocking her over.

"Where are you going?" Shizuru shouted as Kuwabara made a beeline for the entrance.

"HANG ON! YOUR TRUE LEADER IS BACK!" He yelled as he ran inside, leaving the rest of us outside. Shizuru looked furious.

"Why did he leave?" Yukina asked softly, looking a bit disappointed.

"Easy, because he's training to be a man." Shizuru answered as she flipped her middle finger in the direction Kuwabara ran off.

"So Genkai was here all along? The masked fighter, of course." I knew that many demons have wanted her dead for years, so she used the mask to stay hidden in the tournament for as long as possible.

Suddenly, we all heard Kuwabara yell over the stadium loudspeaker.

"KUWABARA RETURNS! SO LETS GET READY TO ROCK AND ROLL!"

"Ugh, do you hear him? If he has to act like a jackass over the loudspeaker, he can at least not use the family name! I'm going to kick his ass!" Shizuru stormed through the entrance into the stadium. The rest of us made to follow her.

"Wait! You guys are going to leave me out here?" Keiko was still trying to hold Yusuke on her shoulder.

"Look around! Birds and the bees, flowers and the trees." Botan teased, grinning wickedly.

"I'm not that kind of girl, Botan!" Keiko replied angrily.

Botan ran off, shouting that a certain diary-reading kitten knows otherwise. I sighed and followed her inside with Yukina beside me. I knew Keiko would be okay. Even a passed out Yusuke was good enough protection.

We entered the stands and my eyes scanned the sidelines. I noticed Suichi. Other than a few minor cuts, he looked relatively unharmed. His energy levels were still quite strong. Hiei, however, was a little worse for wear. He wore his bandanna as a sling around his right shoulder and his energy was nearly completely drained. The masked fighter was now unmasked and revealed to be Genkai. Her own energy was nearly gone. I knew why, Yusuke had her power now.

An old man stood in the ring facing off against Kuwabara. I looked around to find us some seats and found three more next to Shizuru, who had found a third row seat down below.

The match started, Kuwabara vs. Onji. I didn't sense any particularly high levels of energy from the old man, so the fact that Kuwabara was having so much trouble getting in a hit was quite pathetic. Was it possible that instead of improving, Kuwabara actually had gotten worse?

Onji dodged Kuwabara's sword with ease. I saw the problem. Kuwabara was getting quickly frustrated, so much so that it prevented any kind of strategy, not that he ever used much strategy anyway.

After a moment of Onji playing cat and mouse with his opponent, he hid behind the new ring announcer, Juri. Kuwabara called him out for being a coward, so Onji stood still as Kuwabara charged him.

"Oh, don't fall for that, it's a trap." I watched as Onji created a large clear orb in midair. Kuwabara ran straight into it and was trapped.

"Wow, did he really just fall for that?" I mumbled, holding my head in my hands out of embarrassment.

Onji announced that the orb worked similar to some kind of cape of no return that was apparently used on Kuwabara in a previous match. That explained the portal at the old stadium.

Kuwabara yelled as a new portal sucked away the orb with Kuwabara inside, and he was gone.

"I can't believe he was defeated by the same technique twice." I said in disbelief.

Shizuru groaned. "I can."

"The winner is Onji!" Juri announced. Onji rolled the dice for our team once more. It was time for Genkai to fight again.

Genkai entered the ring and glared at Onji.

"Cut the crap, you are no old man, and its not like I might underestimate you based on age anyway." She announced. The four of us looked at each other, confused.

Suddenly, there was a puff of pink smoke, which concealed Onji from view. When the smoke cleared I nearly fell over in shock at the sight.

It was some kind of clown wearing a pink suit! That definitely counted as one of the stranger things I have seen.

He announced his name as "The Beautiful Suzuka." If you said his name without putting a "beautiful" in front, you would not live to repeat your mistake. He demonstrated this by throwing a playing card at Koto as she forgot to use "beautiful" with his name. She ducked just in time and the card sliced through the head of a demon behind her, killing him with an impressive gush of blood.

When Suzuka announced his plan to become something of a god to be worshipped, the demons in the stands began heckling and jeering at him. Suzuka glanced in the direction we were sitting. I felt it coming and I shoved the other girls down to the ground, shielding them with my own body. Suzuka fired an explosive energy blast in our direction, narrowly missing us directly by mere feet. The demons around us who had not moved lay dead.

"Is everyone okay?" I asked desperately.

"Yeah, I think so. Thanks Kurisa." Botan said weakly.

"Don't mention it." I muttered, suppressing the urge to fire my own shot back in retaliation. I noticed the guys at the sideline looking up in our direction to make sure we were okay. I signaled a thumbs up to them. Hiei and Suichi turned back toward the ring and even I could hear the growls coming from them both.

The match finally got underway. Suzuka hit Genkai with what I even had to admit was a beautiful technique, Rainbow Cyclone. Pure energy made up of every color hit Genkai, but Genkai did manage to dodge the full brunt of the attack. It slammed her against the wall of the stands, but she came out unharmed.

Kuwabara suddenly returned to ringside, looking extremely disgruntled.

"So which is worse, losing to an old man or to a clown?" Hiei asked when Kuwabara said he wanted to continue his fight. Hiei's trademark smirk was firmly plastered to his face…he almost looked as if he was suppressing the urge to laugh.

"To a clown…definitely worse to a clown." Kuwabara answered dejectedly.

Genkai held the clown's red nose in her hand and threw it at his feet. He completely freaked out as if she ripped off his real nose. I couldn't help but laugh.

"If he's worried about one of his needless accessories, he is no real fighter. Genkai has this in the bag." I said with a giggle.

Genkai proved me right as she proceeded to lay Suzuka out with just her fists alone. She beat him until he fell to the ring unconscious. Genkai was declared the winner and the semi-finals for our team were over.

It was still quite early in the evening, so we all sort of went our own separate ways after the match. Genkai spoke briefly to the team in the hall, telling them to watch Toguro's next match. Kuwabara then went outside to get Yusuke and Keiko, and he carried Yusuke back to the hotel. Genkai, Botan, Shizuru, and Yukina accompanied Keiko back as well.

Now it was just myself, Suichi, and Hiei in the hall.

"Watch their fights? Hn. I've got better things to do with my time." Hiei turned to leave.

"Do you think it wise to leave and not watch?" Suichi challenged him.

"Of course, fox. Better than wasting my time here." Hiei glared at my brother before flitting away.

Suichi was looking in the direction Hiei had left. He looked slightly concerned.

I laid a hand on his arm in reassurance. "Sometimes we don't agree with his tactics or decisions. Sometimes we think him brash, hasty, or even harsh. But the one thing that can definitely be said about Hiei is that no matter what, he does come through in the end."

"Yes, of course. Sometimes I just have to remind myself of that." Suichi closed his eyes, a more peaceful look taking over his face.

"It seems that you and Hiei are beginning to get along better." Suichi commented.

"Oh, I don't know about that. Perhaps I have a better understanding of him, having experienced a life similar to his, but I haven't had much interaction with him since the start of the tournament." I shrugged.

"Well, I have noticed that he hasn't glared at you in several days now. Even during the brief moments of communication. That is quite unusual for him."

I shrugged again. "I don't know. I guess I haven't really paid it any mind. We better go back to the stands, Toguro's match will start soon."

I made my way back toward the stands, not missing the slight grin on my brother's face as he followed.

We stood against the railing at the top on the stands near the exit. The next two teams were announced as they approached the ring.

As my eyes scanned each face of each member of team Toguro, I grew more and more worried. I could sense their energy. In comparison with Suichi or Hiei's energy, it would seem that my two favorite demons wouldn't stand a chance. But I couldn't think that way. I could feel my whole body shake nervously. Suichi seemed to feel it, but made no attempt to speak. I knew then that he, too, was afraid.

I could tell the opposing team's energy would be no match, either.

Karasu's match ended quickly. I felt sorry for the demon who had to fight him. I was impressed by the other demons sulfuric acid attack. I had a similar technique myself that stemmed from my earth element. Somehow, Karasu could transfer his energy from his hands inside his opponent and ignite it like a bomb, and this rendered any offense or defense useless. His poor opponent suffered a double arm amputation before conceding to Karasu and tried to run, but Karasu ended up killing him anyway.

Bui's match was next. His opponent unsheathed a large sword, but Bui summoned an even bigger axe from thin air. I knew that weapon had to be heavy and would take forever to swing, making Bui vulnerable to close range attacks. I was proven wrong. Bui swung his axe with such ease one would think he was wielding a dagger. His poor opponent was hit so hard his body was blown to pieces. It was gruesome to watch.

The eldest of the Toguro brothers was up next. The younger Toguro hadn't even shown up for the match.

The elder Toguro offered to fight one on three, and would concede the round if they won. All agreed and the last match was underway.

I was highly impressed with the technique of the last three fighters. They created copies of themselves, leaving the elder Toguro hopelessly outnumbered 15 to 1.

Just as I thought that the three must win, Toguro shot dagger-like appendages out from all over his body, stabbing all fifteen fighters and bringing the original three to the ground, where he proceeded to finish them one by one.

Team Toguro had taken out an entire team of five. I knew it was all part of the competition, but I still couldn't help but feel bad for the losing team.

"I'm glad its over, I don't think I could watch anymore of that. Doing what you must to win is one thing, but this kind of senseless slaughter disturbs and disgusts me." I said softly, my eyes cast downward.

"Lets go. We can try to avoid the crowd." He looked just as disturbed as I was.

I nodded as I followed Suichi into the hallway, making our way to the exit. All of a sudden Suichi stopped and pulled me behind him.

"Stay here and don't move." He whispered to me. I nodded and stayed back.

Suichi stepped forward towards two figures blocking the hall in front of us. It was Bui and Karasu.

"You were the only one who watched. Your team must be confident." Karasu said.

"Or in denial." Suichi replied.

Karasu smiled. "Yes that would be easier. Our match will come and the four of you will die."

"Just four?" Suichi asked.

"Yes of course, one of you dies today."

Suddenly Karasu disappeared in the blink of an eye. Neither Suichi nor myself saw him move.

Karasu reappeared behind my brother, his hands wrapped lightly around his neck.

"I like you as a fighter best, Kurama. And when I like something, I like to take it away. Save your fight for me?" Karasu released his hands and walked away, leaving my brother visibly shaken.

I stepped forward and put a comforting hand on his arm. He allowed himself to be led away by me. I could tell he was deep in thought.

He turned to me. "Go find the girls and get back to the hotel. I don't want anyone who cannot defend themselves left alone right now." Suichi's voice was tense.

"And what will you do?" I asked him.

"I have some things I need to figure out. Go, I'll be okay." His smile was strained. I was very worried, but I did as he asked and made my way back to the hotel.

On the way I ran into the girls: Keiko, Botan, Yukina, and Shizuru. They were in the middle of speaking with Genkai. Genkai noticed my approach and turned to me.

"I finally get to meet the team's resident kid sister I've heard so much about." Genkai smiled gently.

I gave her a respectful bow and returned the smile. "It is my honor, Master Genkai."

"Kurama told me of your politeness and perceptiveness. You are much like him, child, and never change that. Take care of each other. This whole team already cares so much for you, even if you don't realize it."

I was slightly taken aback, not sure how to take her words. There was a slight emotional undertone to them. I could sense trouble, but I also knew Genkai was capable of handling her own.

"Well I must be going." Genkai said as she disappeared into the woods behind us.

"Well let's get back to the hotel, I'm dead tired." Botan said as we made our way towards our room.

We made it to the front of the hotel and spotted Kuwabara pacing by the entrance mumbling to himself. He paused and looked over and spotted us.

"Yukina! You brought your servants too!" He shouted. I was half-tempted to throw a fireball at him, but Shizuru got there first. WHAM!

"For a joke to get old it has to be funny in the first place." Shizuru glared down at Kuwabara, still sprawled on the ground at her feet.

"So what was the mumbling all about?" Shizuru asked.

"Well Genkai left the room in a hurry and said some weird things, then Yusuke wakes up, calls me an idiot, and leaves too and I don't know what's going on!"

Kuwabara got up at that point and ran off into the forest. We stared after him a moment before making our way back to the room. We settled down on the sofa and looked out the window at the darkening sky.

Suddenly, out of nowhere the windows were hit by a blast of strong wind, and the electric charge I felt in the air was more than I ever felt before. Someone was powering up their energy, and the feeling in the pit of my stomach was worse than anything I felt before. For the first time in a long time, I was terrified.

Botan and I both moved to the window for a better view. The wind had certainly picked up but otherwise we didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

All of a sudden, it felt as if my blood had turned cold and I began to feel light headed. I looked over at Botan and I could tell she felt it too. She closed her eyes and took off toward the adjoining bathroom. I reached out with my senses to make sure everyone was okay. Hiei, Suichi, and Kuwabara were the closest to me so I sensed them first. They seemed okay. I reached a bit farther, expecting to feel that large blast of energy again but I felt nothing. Whatever had caused it was now masking its energy. I could also feel Yusuke's energy quite a bit further out, so he was fine.

Then it hit me. I tried reaching out to sense for Genkai's energy signature. I couldn't feel it anywhere. I knew in my heart something very bad had just happened to our teammate and Yusuke's mentor. I couldn't help it, I was very afraid…afraid for everyone that I love.


	9. Chapter 9 Backburner

Thank you to pourquoibella and my anon reviewer for the reviews and I will keep your pointers in mind for future chapters. Thanks again to all who read, follow, and favorite!

Ch. 9:

* * *

Yusuke did not return to the hotel that night.

I made my way into the bathroom and managed to calm Botan down. "Genkai…is she?"

Botan merely nodded. She couldn't bring herself to say it. I understood.

"Well, now we know where the younger Toguro was this evening." I muttered darkly. "Are you okay?" I asked. She just nodded. I placed a comforting hand on Botan's shoulder before returning to the living room. Suichi, Hiei, and Kuwabara had returned.

"Yusuke is still outside." I said in a subdued voice.

"Yes." Was all my brother said before fixing his eyes to the floor. Everyone was subdued that evening. Not even Hiei and Kuwabara felt like arguing. Eventually I felt closed in the longer I stayed in the room. So I took my leave and made my way to the roof of the hotel. I breathed deeply. The night air was refreshing.

I pulled my long hair out of its ponytail and laid back and gazed up at the starry night sky. I started thinking of all my new family. Everyone felt like family to me now. I knew from the beginning that this tournament would be a huge risk to everyone I now held dear to me. After so many years of being alone, I had finally found solace and stability and love, and now it all could very well be taken from me.

I suddenly heard very light footsteps behind me and slightly above me, and I sensed a familiar demonic presence.

"Hn, you don't have to worry. Do you think even if we somehow lose this tournament, that we will just allow them to kill us?" Hiei's red eyes gazed pointedly at me, smirk in place.

I smiled softly. "Sometimes its easy to forget that you're a telepath."

He still wore what he had been wearing earlier that day, along with the shoulder sling. He jumped down off the wall he had been standing on and sat down beside me.

I reached out tentatively towards his injured shoulder. The last time I tried something like this, it had not ended well. This time, even though his eyes closely followed my movements, he made no move to stop me.

I pulled off the sling gently to reveal deep puncture wounds in Hiei's shoulder. It looked like a bite mark.

Hiei used his left arm to pull off what remained of his t-shirt. I think my eyes only betrayed slight surprise at his willingness but I said nothing as I placed my hands over his wounds and concentrated, doing my best to push the thought of his toned and sculpted muscles out of my mind.

To my surprise, a bright, blue-white light appeared around my palms and over his injury. I kept this up for several minutes as I manipulated the light energy inside his shoulder, healing any internal wounds first.

I looked up at him. He was giving me a sidelong glance and for once he did not wear a smirk. His expression was calculating in a way, but soft all the same. It surprised me.

"I know you have been practicing this with Yukina." He spoke up. His voice was gentle…no trace of his usual sarcastic undertone. "I knew that you needed more practice because you didn't manage any progress with her."

"It almost seemed like I had a block on my energy. I couldn't get around it." I said, inwardly excited that I had managed to work with light energy.

Once I finished healing his injuries, I grew curious. I stood up and flared my energy, the familiar lilac purple aura engulfing me. I concentrated on my next move. I raised my hands above my head and once again summoned light energy to them. I lowered my hands in an arcing motion, and as I did so, a dome of white light appeared surrounding both myself and Hiei. Hiei had a look of slight surprise on his face.

"Hn, a light shield. That was unexpected. That will be useful."

"I was concerned. I knew that nothing I learned would be able to shield myself and the girls from dark energy, including the darkness flame." I said. "I feel somewhat better now."

"Try mixing your wind energy with your light shield." Hiei said after a moment. After a second of concentration, I did as he asked. I could now see slight gusts of wind blowing within the light.

Hiei stepped out of my shield and a good distance away. He created a ball of the same dark purple energy in his right hand that I recognized as the beginnings to summon the dragon. Without warning, he threw the energy ball of the darkness flame at my shield. I was nervous, but that only made me concentrate harder.

The ball of darkness flame hit my shield with tremendous force. I felt my entire shield shudder with the impact, but it held true and the energy was deflected into nothingness.

"If that had actually hit you, you would have been burned alive where you stand." My eyes widened at that. "Hn, silly girl. I wouldn't have thrown it at you if I weren't sure your shield would hold. You should be able to ward off any stray energy blasts from my dragon, but as for your shield holding up against the dragon in full, nothing can."

I lowered my shield and powered down. I sat back down and leaned back against the wall. Hiei did the same.

"Thank you." I said.

Hiei betrayed a slight look of surprise. "For what?"

I shrugged. "For everything I guess."

"You are good to Yukina, and you saved her life today." His gaze was fixed on me now. "I do not forget that."

"She is a wonderful person, I like to think anyone would do the same. Besides, that's why I'm here, to keep everyone safe. It was no big thing." I said. He cast his eyes to the ground, his expression was almost sad.

"You care a lot for Yukina, don't you? You would do anything for her huh?" This was a completely new side to Hiei I never knew existed. It was different; yet, I liked this side of him. He simply nodded at my questions. He was silent for several moments more. I turned my gaze back to the night sky.

"I got the Jagan in part to watch over her, to ensure that she was safe and happy." Hiei said in a gentle voice.

"To have a brother who loves his sister as much as you love Yukina, she would be proud to have a brother like you." I said. I noticed his eyes darken slightly.

"You don't have to worry, though. I will not say anything to her. It is your secret to tell and it is not my place to tell, anyway. I have faith that you will tell her, somehow in your own way, when you are ready."

Hiei decided to change the subject at that point.

"You felt that charge of energy earlier, I assume." He said, glancing over at me.

"Yes, I did. That was Toguro." I said. Hiei nodded.

"I'm worried about Yusuke. He still hasn't come back." I said quietly.

"Hn. The detective can take care of himself. He will return when he is ready."

"Yeah, I suppose your right." I sighed.

"Of course I am." Hiei said, a glare playing at his face. I couldn't help it. I cracked up laughing.

Hiei just sort of stared at me with a bewildered look. My laugh trailed off into a yawn and as I leaned my head back, fighting off sleep, I barely registered that my head was now laying on his newly healed shoulder.

I didn't see his reaction, but I felt him tense slightly before relaxing again a couple seconds later as he allowed the action.

"Do me a favor?" I said groggily as I drifted off to sleep. "Don't die, okay?"

"Hn." He said as I drifted off. "I don't plan to."

* * *

I awoke the morning of the final fight with a feeling of dread I couldn't shake. I did not sleep well the last couple nights. It seemed like the more stressed I was, the more I kept having this recurring dream. The details stuck with me in my waking hours unlike any other dream. I couldn't shake the images out of my mind.

Her face haunted me. The unknown fox demoness and her newborn child who had haunted me since I was young. The dream always ended the same sad way.

_An old Mazuko witch took the small bumdle out of her arms. The mother had been running for weeks on end searching for a foolproof way to protect her daughter._

"_I can help you. He will never find the babe. I have a spell that will work for this. Your daughter will be hidden, safe, and unharmed. But any spell comes at a price, whether we wish it to or not." The old demoness spoke._

"_I will pay any price." Said the fox demoness. Her face was set, resolved._

"_One of us must sacrifice our demonic powers." Said the old witch._

"_Then let it be me." Offered the fox demoness. "I fear I will not be long for this world anyway."_

The scene faded and became something much more sinister.

_Her beautiful face was twisted in agony, and she screamed a scream that could break the coldest of hearts. All except one._

_He stood above the fox demoness. He had cornered her at last only to discover that the child was not with her. She had hidden her, and he was set on finding out where at any cost._

"_You can end this you know." His cold blue eyes bore into her. He flipped back his long auburn hair out of his face and raised his hand, dark energy crackling in his palm. He grinned evilly and flexed his energy again. Dark energy flooded her body in small doses, enough to burn her down to her very soul, yet not enough to destroy her._

"_TELL ME WHERE SHE IS!" He yelled at her._

"_NEVER!" she screamed. "I'D RATHER DIE HERE THAN TELL YOU!"_

"_Fine, as you wish." He flared his energy to great amounts, dark energy consuming her completely. _

I woke up screaming along with the poor demoness. I knew her fate; I just wished I could know her name. I was always confused after these dreams. Did they really happen? Was someone trying to send me a message?

Suddenly the window slammed open completely. I yelped and fell out of my bed with my covers tangled around me as someone jumped into my room through said window.

"Hn, silly human can't even keep from falling out of her bed?" Hiei actually teased me as he walked over, offering me a hand to help me up and his other to untangle me from my sheets. I took his hand and let him pull me to my feet.

"Are you okay? I heard you scream." He said as he placed the crumpled sheets back on the bed.

"Yeah, its just…" I hesitated. It wasn't that I did not trust him, I did trust him, but he could potentially take a problem such as this as me being "weak". I had only just started proving to him that I was everything but weak and I really did not want to ruin any progress that I had made with him.

He reached out and turned my head to face him. His red eyes bore into my gold ones.

Damn, telepath, I forgot.

"I never really thought you as weak." He sighed and I gazed at him in surprise. "I was only tough on you because I knew you had potential, and you progress better when you are under stress. The things you dream about do not make you weak. You are able to live happily when awake. I never could." He fixed his gaze to the floor.

I reached out and touched his cheek, and he did not pull away. For the first time I think I was truly seeing the real Hiei. The walls he had built around him had begun to crumble down, and beneath the rough, moody, sarcastic exterior was a young man, in demon years not much further along in maturity than I was, who had seen and experienced too much in his life. I had a feeling few ever got to see this side of him: gentle, protective, and even kind and emotional in his own way.

"You could, you know. If anyone deserves to live a happy life its you." I said softly. Hiei kept his eyes down, yet I felt him lean his face against my hand a bit.

There was a knock at the door, and I literally felt the wind from the speed of his exit.

Suichi poked his head in just in time to see me still holding my arm out in midair. I lowered it slowly as he raised an eyebrow at me.

"Get ready, we need to go soon." He smiled as he closed the door. My face burned as I collected myself and began to get dressed.

* * *

My head felt like a swarm of angry bees and I barely paid attention to where I was going as I accompanied the girls to the stadium. Botan had some important business to attend to in spirit world this morning, and I suspected the reason behind it. She had to accompany Genkai to spirit world. I knew this would not be an easy task for her. She was supposed to meet us in front of the stadium with our tickets when she was finished.

But the main thing on my mind at the time was that confusing as hell fire demon. It seemed that we had finally gotten to a good place where we were developing a close friendship. I now felt like I could confide in Hiei for anything, and he apparently thought the same.

But I had started to read the signs. Maybe I was reading more into it than there actually was. The possibility of what the signs could mean scared me a little.

I wasn't sure what might have happened if my brother hadn't interrupted this morning, and would I have wanted whatever it was to happen? Part of me did but part of me was admittedly afraid. He's a demon, I'm a human, and he had made it more than clear that he generally despised humans. Yet if that were really true, what could explain his recent behavior?

I decided I needed to set this issue on the backburner for now. No point worrying about it. Whatever is meant to happen will happen after all. We just needed to survive this tournament first, anything else after that, we could deal with it then.

When Keiko, Shizuru, Yukina, and myself arrived at the stadium, Botan ran up to meet us. She looked distressed.

"Oh I'm so sorry guys I was so frazzled this morning I forgot to ask Koenma about tickets. I'm afraid we won't get to watch the last match!"

"It's okay, Botan, we will think of something." I said.

"I could always charge the bouncer again." Shizuru spoke up. I giggled.

"It seems as though attack may be our only option." Yukina said. I looked at her in surprise and amusement. Did she have any idea how much like her brother she sounded just then?

"Did I hear you ladies say something about tickets? I have five tickets right here. Primo seats! I might let them go for a discounted rate!" A demon ticket scalper hustled over, waving five tickets in his hand.

With impressive speed, Shizuru swiped the five tickets out of the scalper's hand before he knew what happened.

"Oh, Botan, don't these look like our tickets?" She asked with a slight wink.

"Oh my yes, they do!" Botan said with a bit too much enthusiasm as she quickly scribbled each of our names on them with a red pen while Shizuru hid them behind her back.

"Okay girls, fun's over, hand them back." The scalper said, annoyed.

"But they must be ours, our names are on them." Shizuru said, showing the scalper the tickets, which now bore our names.

As the scalper put his head in his hands in defeat, we made our way into the stadium, giggling the entire way at our craftiness, and found our seats just in time for the match to begin.

* * *

A/N: So were starting to see hints at the increasing bond between Hiei and my OC. I know he may have seemed a bit...soft spoken. At least more so than he normally would be in character. This is intentional. His love and respect for Yukina is unparalleled in the series, and he does try to edit himself and watch his tone around her. She is one of the only people in the series who's opinion of him actually matters to him. With that said, I would imagine that if he were involved in a potentially romantic situation with someone, he would take the same kind of care with that person as well. We all know he only likes people to think he doesn't care, but VERY deep down, he actually does...much to his own annoyance.

Also yes my OC is quite strong early on in the story. There is actually good reason behind that and all will be explained as the story continues further. Plus, it is kind of refreshing that my female OC doesn't take on the whole "damsel in distress" persona that is seen all too often. She starts off just strong enough that she can save herself if need be. She's lived most of her entire life having to mostly take care of herself. She knew she had powers since she was young, and with no one around to help train her, she took care of that herself as well, by and large. Oh, and she will get to see her favorite big brother in his Yoko form soon, as well :)


	10. Chapter 10 The Fox and the Dragon

A thank you to SakiHanajima1 for her review and to all my new followers! You guys are all amazing!

Ch. 10:

* * *

We made our way to the stands just as Koenma made it to ringside. I groaned at the cheesy entrance he made.

I glanced to Shizuru who seemed to be frozen in place. Her stare was fixed directly on Sakyo. Oh dear. I felt bad for her, but the heart wants what the heart wants. I knew that well.

Damnit! Backburner, Kuri, backburner! I shook the thought from my mind and led the girls to our seats.

Karasu stepped forward for the first match, and so did Suichi for our side.

Juri announced, "The first match will be Karasu vs. Kurama. Begin!"

"Go Kurama!" Keiko and Botan shouted beside me. George the ogre took an extra seat beside us and started chanting my brother's name while wielding a club, much to the ire of the demon fans around us. I laughed despite myself.

The match began, and Suichi started with a technique I knew he seldom used. He manipulated a handful of ordinary rose petals to become as sharp as razors, and if his opponent came too close, the petals would turn to attack the intruder and tear them to shreds. It was a very beautiful technique and appropriate. Suichi needed to keep as much distance as possible from Karasu to prevent him from using his energy bombs.

Karasu suddenly flexed his hands, and the result shocked us all. The petals nearest to Karasu exploded with force until all the petals were obliterated. And he didn't even touch them! Now I was very worried. We had clearly underestimated him.

Karasu attacked again, this time using a bit of hand to hand, Suichi dodging his blows, but only just barely. When he attempted to use his rose whip, Karasu merely used a bomb to blow it up. Great, the whip was basically useless. Karasu went for another blow with his hand, which Suichi dodged, only to be hit in the arm and leg by one of Karasu's invisible bombs.

"No." I whispered. I couldn't stand to see him like this.

Karasu formed a bomb that we all could see. He ignited it with his energy and threw it at Suichi. It exploded with tremendous force right in front of him! Smoke and flames engulfed the stadium.

"Oh please, no!" I screamed loudly. I couldn't see any sign of him anywhere.

Suddenly the black smoke turned white and began to make a swirling pattern. Lightning cracked within the smoke, and I felt a huge surge of energy. It felt familiar, but it clearly had a demonic signature.

The smoke cleared, and I gasped. The figure standing in place of the brother I knew was a figure I has seen only in books. His name was a name I had only heard in stories.

My brother had become the legendary Yoko Kurama. His white robes and silver hair and tail flowed in the breeze. He was tall, and had sparkling gold eyes.

Okay, so maybe Yoko was my brother all the time too. The technicalities of the demon/human merger confused me somewhat. Yoko is Suichi, Suichi is Yoko, but I knew that his Yoko side had an entirely different personality and way of thinking.

Just thinking about it gave me a headache.

Apparently Yoko could see the energy bombs Karasu made, because the next two he sent after Yoko, he merely destroyed them with a pair of roses before they could make contact. Karasu sent some new bombs after Yoko called trace eyes that all of us could easily see, and Yoko dodged them with relative ease. Yoko stood still as the eyes approached, and a huge flesh-eating plant erupted from the ground under Yoko and destroyed them.

Yoko called the plant an Ojigi, and it attacks when it senses movement. Very smart.

Karasu dodged the plant heads, but certainly not with ease. He attempted to blow up a stalk of the plant with a bomb, but that only made the plant chase him more aggressively. Eventually the plant caught him, and every head on every stalk engulfed Karasu and appeared to squeeze him to death.

"Yeah that's my brother down there! What a way to end it!" I cheered. One down!

"I love my brother." Shizuru stated. "But it's nice to see someone not embarrass themselves for once."

Just as Juri was about to call the match, the heads of the plant exploded. Karasu reappeared without his mask, and I got a very bad feeling.

Karasu began to power up; his energy was building up inside of him. His hair turned from black to a brilliant golden blond. He rose into the air by the force of his own energy, and as he crashed back to the ring, the explosion was with so much force it blew apart the stands on the opposite side of where we were sitting!

Yusuke, Kuwabara, Koenma, and Hiei were blown into the wall of the stands by the force of the blast, but were otherwise unharmed.

But my brother was nowhere to be found. A feeling of dread washed over me.

My brother reappeared from under a pile of rubble seemingly no worse for wear, but he had turned back into his human form. He was substantially weakened, he couldn't even form his rose whip, and so he did something very uncharacteristic. He resorted to hand-to-hand combat.

Both fighters dodged each other's fists and kicks expertly. Suddenly Suichi went for another familiar attack. He charged a small amount of his energy and punched Karasu in the chest. I knew what he had done. Unfortunately, so did Karasu.

"You actually thought this would work?" Karasu taunted as he pulled the seed out of the mark in his chest. It was one of Suichi's death vine seeds. He proceeded to blow up the seed with his energy, and Suichi actually took a step back from his opponent.

As he stepped back, a steel like claw erupted from the ring and grabbed Suichi's leg. Attached to the claw was a bomb, which detonated.

The scream I heard was terrible. I have never heard my brother scream like that. I hid my head in my hands. I did not want to watch what might happen next.

Suddenly I heard Yusuke yell out. "Don't move Kurama, you're surrounded by bombs!"

I looked up to see my brother somehow on his feet, but his leg was a mangled mess. He was indeed surrounded by bombs. I faintly heard Karasu taunt him before flexing his energy yet again. The bombs began to hit him.

His screams were even worse than before. I hid my eyes again.

"Karasu is such a bastard, I wish he would just get it over with." Shizuru spoke up. I turned and threw her a very icy glare.

"Shizuru!" Botan spoke up angrily. "I never want to hear you speak like that again!" Botan threw her arms around me and held my shaking body close to her. "We can't lose another loved one to Toguro."

Suddenly I heard Suichi scream his loudest screams. I couldn't help it. I looked.

The last of the bombs surrounding him had hit. I read his energy levels. He was fading fast.

"BROTHER NO!" I screamed out, standing up. Botan and Keiko sobbed beside me. Yukina hid her eyes along with Shizuru.

The count had begun. I couldn't watch anymore. I sat back down with my head in my hands, crying softly.

At the count of seven, I heard Karasu charging up another bomb. I quickly looked up to see Suichi attempting to rise to his knees. Suddenly a very large plant erupted from Suichi's body to attack Karasu. The plant latched on to the cut on Karasu's chest and began to eat him alive.

I knew what had happened. As Suichi collapsed to the ground, his life began to fade yet again. He had given his life energy for that one last attack.

"No, please…" I whispered into my hands.

Suddenly the girls all stood to their feet, whooping and cheering. Botan attempted to pull me to my feet.

"Kuri! He's okay! I don't know how but he's okay!" Keiko shouted. I looked up to see Suichi getting to his feet, bloody, mangled, but definitely alive. I had no clue how it was possible, but it was. I began to laugh nervously in relief.

It was a victory to all of us, but apparently not according to the tournament committee. They ruled in favor of Karasu. A replay of the final seconds of Juri's count proved that my brother acted just after the ten count. But it didn't matter to us.

I heard the elder Toguro speak up. His voice was very irritating. "Even if you all survive your matches, I'll just wish for the death of you and all of your friends anyway."

I growled softly. If I had to continue hearing this creep's taunts I may just lose control of my power again.

Hiei stepped forward. "Do you know what I will wish for?" Everyone went silent; I think everyone may have been a bit nervous to know the answer to that. "The deaths of every member of that corrupt tournament committee."

I smiled and shook my head. I couldn't say I would disagree.

Bui began to step forward to the ring, and Hiei followed suit.

"Hey! I thought I had the big guy!" Kuwabara looked annoyed.

I saw Koenma give him a sidelong glance. "Would you want to be buried in that or something decent?" Kuwabara grabbed Koenma by his robes and shook him. I had to giggle at that.

Juri introduced the two fighters, and the match began. Bui summoned his huge battle-axe, and I had to agree with Koto. I think the axe was bigger than last time!

"Nice weapon, Bui, but I prefer my own." Hiei stripped off his black cloak. His right arm was wrapped in bandages almost to his shoulder and was covered in talismans and seals. Had he actually managed to fully control the dragon? It certainly seemed so.

Bui charged at Hiei with his axe and went for a hit, but I could only just see Hiei dodge at the last second. Bui's axe only hit the ring.

"Your aim is as broad as your axe, at least try to hit me." Hiei had a hint of a smile on his face. I laughed softly.

Bui tried a new tactic. He picked up the concrete blocks that made up the ring with his axe and threw them at Hiei, which he dodged with ease. Bui's reflexes were painfully slow in comparison.

"I know I'm a small target but this is ridiculous." Hiei taunted. It was a lot harder for him to conceal his smirk now. I laughed again. I could even dare say he may be having a bit of fun with this. Bui sent another block flying at Hiei, but he merely punched it, sending it flying into pieces. As Hiei was busy punching concrete blocks out of his way, Bui charged forward for another assault with his axe. Hiei was caught off guard and would not have been capable of dodging the blow. He caught his mistake in time, however, and charged up his fire energy in his fist. I recognized it as his fist of the mortal flame.

His flaming fist made contact with the axe. Instead of Hiei being sliced in half, the axe was incinerated. Bui just merely summoned another axe.

"You are foolish to think this axe will be any more effective than the last." Hiei glared in annoyance at Bui.

Bui threw his axe toward Hiei. He caught it in midair and incinerated this one too. It was pretty cool to see.

Bui started to remove his thick heavy armor. Hiei stood by and waited for him to finish.

"If you hit him while he's kneeling he can't fight back!" The ogre yelled out.

I turned to retort, but Botan beat me to it.

"Hiei is an honorable person and wouldn't do something so deceitful!" She said angrily.

"It's cheating!" cried Keiko.

"I suppose you would suggest handcuffs and chains too, huh ogre?" Shizuru muttered.

"Excuse me while I shrink away." The ogre said dejectedly. He went quiet.

Bui's armor was now removed, and he powered up. His energy was pretty awesome to see. His green aura shone like a beacon. Hiei flared his energy too, a dark purple aura that resembled flames. Hiei shot some of this fire at Bui, and for a moment it seemed that it had engulfed Bui, but he blew away the fire with his own aura. Bui charged an energy blast and sent it toward Hiei, which he had to dodge to avoid. The ball of energy followed him, however, so Hiei dodged behind Bui, then dodged again just before the energy blast hit, so that it hit Bui instead. The energy ball exploded like a bomb.

Bui emerged from the resulting crater unharmed and charged his energy again.

"My attacks are designed to be only just strong enough to take out my opponent, but it didn't even put a dent in me. Take that how you like." Bui taunted.

"So it takes a lot more than that to take you out?" Hiei smirked. "Here comes a lot more." He began to unravel the bandages from his right arm.

I got a distant look at his arm under the bandages. A tattoo of a black dragon spiraled down his entire arm, and the arm itself was emitting a strange energy. His aura had also changed from a dark purple to an inky black. It made me nervous to see it, even more so to feel it. And I began to fear for the safety of the girls beside me. I concentrated my own energy and I felt it crackle and spark around me. A bright blue-white light surrounded my hands. I lifted my hands in the air and brought them down in an arching motion. A light shield surrounded our section of the stands like a dome, just like I had practiced. This time, however, I discovered that it took little to no concentration to maintain it, even when I pushed some of my wind energy into it.

Shizuru started to shudder in dread. I knew why. The energy in this stadium was so dark and powerful that she could still feel it even through my shield.

Black flames erupted from Hiei's entire body. This dragon was much more powerful than from his first time using it. The entire stadium was now engulfed in its power and the ring crumbled under its force.

Hiei released the dragon from his arm. It barreled straight toward Bui. I had to admit, the dragon of the darkness flame had a kind of sinister beauty to it that wasn't hard to appreciate.

It seemed as though Bui should be incinerated on the spot, but his battle aura prevented that, however, the dragon still threw him into the air and propelled him all throughout the stadium. Weaker audience members were being instantly vaporized by the dragon's aura. A stray blast from the dragon headed straight for us, but as it hit my shield it vaporized even though my shield shook violently.

Finally, the dragon blew a hole in the side of the stadium and flew outside, still propelling Bui on its muzzle. Something had to give soon. Hiei jumped to the top of the stadium for a better view of the impending carnage.

Much to our shock, Bui actually managed to turn the dragon away from him and directed it right at Hiei!

"HIEI! MOVE!" I screamed before realizing there was no way he could have heard me.

He was caught off guard. He did not expect his dragon to be deflected. Before he could dodge, the dragon hit him head on.

"NO!" I screamed. This couldn't be happening. I had no idea what could be done. Nothing could be done for him now. He was clearly gone. It seemed like time came to a screeching halt and there was still no sign of him. There was so much that I had wanted to say to him, but now I couldn't. How much of this could I take?

Just as Juri was about to call the match, a portal of flames appeared behind Bui, and Hiei appeared, looking perfectly unharmed. I sighed in relief and took some deep breaths to calm down. He seemed to glow with a soft white aura, and the dragon tattoo on his arm was gone.

I realized what happened, and I could hardly believe it. It wasn't enough of a shock that he could actually pull off using the dragon without getting himself killed in the process, but now he had contained the dragon's power within himself.

He was now the Master of the Darkness Flame. He was now the dragon itself.

Bui charged again, attempting hand-to-hand combat. But punching and kicking Hiei was just as effective now as beating up a brick wall. He was completely unharmed and unaffected. His body barely shuddered with the impacts.

Bui was clearly getting frustrated, so he threw Hiei about fifty feet in the air, followed, and threw him back to the ring. Hiei hit the ground with such force his body formed a crater, but still, Hiei was unharmed. The dragon's power had made him pretty much invincible.

Bui went for another hit, but Hiei easily stopped his fist with his hand. Bui tried with all his strength, but could not take a step forward. Hiei then proceeded to drain every bit of Bui's aura. With his other hand, Hiei formed an energy ball using the dragon's power, which blew Bui up in the air and into the stands. After all of that, Hiei did not go for a killing blow.

Bui was counted out with a ten count, and Hiei was declared the winner.

"Yes! Tied one to one!" I cheered.

After an official announcement that we would be taking a long intermission while a replacement ring was brought in, me, Keiko, Botan, Shizuru, Yukina, and George made our way to ringside.

"I'm going to require some hibernation to get my energy back, can you fools find a safe place for my body?" Hiei muttered to Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"Uh…." Kuwabara looked confused.

"If I wake up and we have lost I swear ill….kill….you all…" Hiei passed out asleep. I grinned. How dangerous he seemed when he was awake, yet he was actually kind of cute and innocent looking when asleep.

Yusuke laughed. "He faints but still has time for a threat."

Kuwabara laughed along with Yusuke. "Can I give him a mustache?" He said, holding up a marker.

"No, unless you actually want him to use the dragon on you." I said as I walked by them, snatching the marker out of Kuwabara's hand as I made my way to Suichi.

"You gotta hand it to Hiei. When he's feeling serious, he lets you know." Yusuke commented, looking at all the destruction Hiei had caused.

I stood calmly in front of Suichi, expressionless. Suichi looked slightly confused.

"DON'T EVER SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN!" I yelled before gently hugging him, mindful of his injuries.

"I'm glad you're okay." I whispered.

"Me too, sister, me too." He said gently.

I heard a sinister laugh from right next to me. I whirled around to see the elder Toguro.

"This is only a momentary reprieve from death, Kuwabara." He taunted. His eyes glimmered maliciously. "Enjoy your last few hours in the living." He continued to laugh as me made his way back to his own side. What a creep!

"Well, lets go back to the locker room." Koenma spoke up, breaking the tension. "We can let Hiei sleep there."

Kuwabara bent over and picked Hiei up off the ground and we all made our way back to the locker room to wait.


	11. Chapter 11 So Much for the Backburner

Thank you again for the review, follows, favorites, and views. Lets continue on, shall we?

Ch. 11:

* * *

When we got back to the locker room, Kuwabara set Hiei's sleeping form on a cot. Suichi sat down to rest on a second cot, and I went to work.

"Get Hiei's arm wrapped up first so his power is stabilized." Suichi told me. Yukina handed me a roll of bandages.

The image of a spiraling black dragon was beginning to return to his arm. It was still faint, but it would darken quickly.

I took hold of his arm and started to gently but firmly wrap the bandages around it. I made sure it was firmly secured but not uncomfortably so. Once I finished I turned to my brothers wounds.

"Lie back, relax. Let me take care of some of these injuries."

He did as I asked, and again I concentrated light energy into my hands and began to heal the worst of Suichi's wounds. His leg and torso were the worst, so that is where I started.

After several minutes, the worst of his injuries were pretty much healed. I turned to look at everyone else. Kuwabara was standing at the window. He was very pale and lost in his own thoughts. I felt so bad for him; he was scared but did not want to show it.

Suddenly, the ground shook violently with very loud, crunching footsteps. Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Koenma ran to investigate. I followed.

"Please don't be a giant monster!" Yusuke prayed out loud.

The sight that met me made me go speechless. It was the younger Toguro brother. He was actually carrying the concrete ring from the old stadium on his back to the new stadium!

"I think I'm going to be sick." Yusuke groaned. I didn't blame him. I felt a sickening dread wash over me. I think I would have preferred that it be a giant monster. I made my way back to the locker room while the others decided to go for a walk to clear their heads.

"What's happening?" Suichi asked after I returned to the locker room.

"Oh just Toguro carrying the old ring to the stadium." I said weakly. I could imagine my expression was equal to that if I had just seen a ghost.

"Oh my…" My brother responded quietly.

I sat in the locker room with my brother. The girls had already left to find something to eat. Suichi had found a book to read and I rested on the floor with my back to the wall and absentmindedly played with a small fireball I had conjured in my hand. I formed it, extinguished it, formed it again and rolled it along my fingers. I'm not even sure how much time had passed.

From Hiei's cot, I heard a groan. His eyes fluttered open and he sat up, rubbing the back of his head.

"Where am I, how long have I been out?" Hiei said groggily.

"You're in the locker room, and you have been out for nearly six hours." Suichi replied.

"Six hours! Well who won then?"

"Nothing has changed since you were last awake, it's taken some time to organize things since you leveled half the stadium." Suichi smiled and returned to his book.

"Toguro carried the ring from the old stadium on his back." I informed him as his eyes widened in surprise. "Believe me it was quite intimidating to see. We should be able to begin shortly."

"I'm going to go check on Yusuke and Kuwabara." Suichi spoke up before leaving the room, leaving me alone with Hiei. It was a bit too quiet for several minutes.

"I heard your thoughts, you know, when you thought my dragon had consumed me." Hiei said with a serious expression.

I was sure I was blushing at that point. I stared at the floor. Oh what an interesting floor. He reached out and gently turned my head to face him.

"Why would you worry about me? I don't understand." His eyes were soft, confused.

"You're my friend, Hiei. Of course I'm going to worry about you." I replied. Hiei abruptly dropped his hand, his glare returned in force.

"Hn, I don't deserve it." He suddenly threw his walls up again, pulled away from me, and he turned to leave.

No, no way was I going to let him just walk away like that.

I caught up to Hiei before he even touched the door. Part of my brain registered that if he had truly wanted to leave he could have left so fast that I couldn't have stopped him. Part of him wanted me to catch him. I grabbed his left shoulder firmly and turned him around. His expression was hard but intense. What I did next was just stupid crazy, yet he went for it at the same time I did.

When I spun him around, our lips crashed together. Both of us responded passionately to it, and for a moment I kind of lost myself in it, despite the annoying little voice in my head screaming at me to stop or risk ruining everything with him. I ignored it. His lips were surprisingly so soft and gentle against my own. He placed one hand on the small of my back and the other on the back of my neck and actually increased the passion of the kiss. My own arms wrapped themselves around his shoulders.

Only a small part of my mind registered confusion. How could this happen? Why was this happening? This is completely out of character for him. I pushed those thoughts out of my mind, however. I really didn't want to question it right now.

The announcement over the loudspeaker stating that the next match would begin in a few minutes finally broke us out of our little moment. He pulled away before I did, and his expression was one of fear and confusion. I groaned inwardly at his reaction and I reached out to him slowly, not wanting to make things worse. What in the hell have I done?

"Hiei, wait, its okay…" I started, but he turned and bolted out of the room, leaving me feeling a bit hurt and very confused myself.

Damn confusing fire demon! I cursed myself at my apparent lack of self-control. The last thing I wanted to do was make his life even more complicated than it already was. So much for my backburner plan.

I left the locker room, but I couldn't see anyone down the hall, so I made my way back to our spot in the stands where I found George and the girls.

I took a seat between Yukina and Shizuru. Shizuru turned and stared at me. I barely noticed.

She bent down to whisper to me. "What's wrong, kid? You look sad."

I gave a noncommittal shrug. How she guessed what was bugging me from that was beyond me.

"It's Hiei, isn't it?" Shizuru didn't wait for my confirmation. "I could tell you have been sweating him for the last few days now, and the fact that he's down on the sidelines looking just as glum as you kind of confirms something happened with you two."

"We both kind of kissed each other in the locker room. We pretty much went for it at the same time." I told her in a whisper.

"Damn. Look kid I can imagine what happened here. He got lost in the moment along with you, he came back to reality and realized what was happening, and he bolted, right?"

Damn she was good. "Yeah that's pretty spot on."

Shizuru smiled softly and shook her head. "I have to say that I never would have guessed the guy would be capable of showing that kind of affection. In case you couldn't tell, he isn't exactly Mr. Social. Give him some time and space to work it out on his own. If that kiss was any indicator, he will come around."

What she said made sense. He wouldn't have done that or allowed it if he didn't feel something.

"Thanks, that actually helps." I told her.

"Now lets put that out of our minds and cheer for our boys!" Shizuru said, smiling.

"Alright Kuwabara you can do this!" Shouted Keiko.

Kuwabara was up next. He was facing off with the elder Toguro.

Juri began the match, and Kuwabara summoned his spirit sword. But this sword was different. A much stronger energy was radiating from it and from Kuwabara himself.

"That new sword, it has offensive and defensive energy boosts. I've never seen him so powerful." I murmured to myself. The other girls were gazing intently at the ring.

Kuwabara charged Toguro. He brought his sword down in a heavy strike, but Toguro did not move. Kuwabara ended up slicing Toguro into two pieces!

"Wait, is it…over?" I asked.

"I thought he was dead for sure!" Botan exclaimed.

"Funny, so did I." Shizuru replied.

"Hey! I didn't!" Yukina said indignantly

All of a sudden, Toguro popped out of the floor of the ring and impaled Kuwabara with his dagger like fingers. He had made a copy of himself with his hand and slipped his real body under the floor of the ring, then hit Kuwabara from behind. It was such an honorless tactic.

"He can move his body parts wherever he chooses. The only way to kill him is to pierce the heart or brain, but good luck finding them." I said.

Toguro began his taunting again, revealing to Kuwabara that Genkai was dead, which was something that all of us had tried to avoid saying out loud. The truth was too painful to hear. But none of us ever intentionally left Kuwabara in the dark, however, but that is how Toguro made it sound.

When Toguro described in detail how his brother killed her, we all became disgusted.

"What I wouldn't give to incinerate his ass right now." I growled.

Kuwabara flared up his energy. I'm not sure if he did it himself or if it was subconscious, but I could see his defenses rise dramatically. Toguro formed his hand in the shape of a drill and attempted to plunge it through Kuwabara's chest, but his pure energy stopped the drill from penetrating his skin.

"NOW DIE!" Kuwabara shouted. Golden spirit daggers shot from his hand and ripped elder Toguro into small pieces!

"YEAH! THAT WAS AWESOME!" I cheered.

Juri started the ten count, and I started thinking about the next match. Suddenly at the count of eight Juri stopped. Elder Toguro was piecing his own body back together and was getting to his feet!

Toguro wrapped his extended fingers behind Kuwabara and hoisted him in the air and slammed him back down to the concrete below.

Toguro formed a knife with his hand and was about to dissect Kuwabara, but he shot some of his spirit energy out to manipulate his sword, and from a distance guided his sword into ripping Toguro to shreds yet again.

"Why did he do that again? It didn't work the first time. Still cool to see though." I commented.

Predictably, Toguro pieced himself together again, but Kuwabara was ready. His sword formed what looked like a bug zapper racket.

I understood Kuwabara's strategy now. Wow, did I really just use 'Kuwabara' and 'strategy' in the same sentence? Since he had no clue where Toguro's organs were hiding, he would just obliterate everything at once. Coming from Kuwabara, it was genius.

"SPIRIT FLYSWATTER!" He shouted and brought his racket down. It sparked and burned until there was nothing left of the elder Toguro but smoke.

Kuwabara had won. Holy crap, Kuwabara won! Juri called the match. We all breathed a sigh of relief.

Sakyo stepped forward next and asked for the microphone. He proposed to make the fight between Yusuke and Toguro the decisive battle, with his own life at stake as his bet. Koenma and the tournament committee agreed to the terms. All bets were now officially closed.

Yusuke stepped forward along with Toguro and prepared themselves for the start of the final match. Just as Juri was about to begin the match, eerie, high-pitched laughter met our ears. Suddenly, a scrawny figure burst up from the arena floor.

"What the hell?" I asked softly, confused.

It was elder Toguro. He was injured but clearly alive. The cheat! He had liquefied himself and hid between the tiles of the ring. He waited until the bets were closed before revealing himself, giving his side an unfair advantage.

Surprisingly, when he revealed his genius plan to his younger brother, the younger Toguro punted his elder brother into the air. This only succeeded in angering the elder Toguro. When he came back down for a retribution strike, the younger Toguro charged up his fist and punched him clear out of the stadium. Somehow, I knew the elder Toguro's body would fly for miles after that punch. Toguro wanted a fair fight with Yusuke. I had to respect that.

The match finally began for real. Toguro started powering up his body to 80%. His body gave off a strange aqua colored aura. Suddenly, some of the weaker demons in the front row of the crowd started to dissolve from the sheer force of Toguro's demonic energy. Even Suichi, Hiei, and Kuwabara were having trouble withstanding it. Koenma threw up a defensive shield of pure spirit energy, which was strong enough to deflect the malevolent demon energy. My own spirit energy only worked in an elemental form. I could not form pure spirit energy by itself. Botan's own spirit energy was strong, but not strong enough to protect against this.

Toguro's aura creeped up the stands in our direction.

"You have to get out of here!" Yukina cried to us.

Suddenly, little Puu charged his energy and actually created a barrier of spirit energy to protect us all.

"It's okay, I think Puu's got this." I reassured her. Toguro was now fully charged to 80%. If this was only the beginning, what more could be next?


	12. Chapter 12 Saved

Everyone who is reading and reviewing are awesome and deserve cookies...and a new chapter.

Ch. 12:

* * *

Toguro was now fully charged to 80%, and so far we were all safe thanks to Puu and Koenma's defensive shields.

Toguro and Yusuke charged at each other, both trading a barrage of punches but Toguro quickly got the upper hand. Yusuke was thrown back by a swipe of Toguro's arm. He caught himself as Toguro charged forward, fist at the ready. Yusuke went to block Toguro's punch, but Toguro stopped before he hit.

"I see how you look at me in judgment. Do you know what it's like to lose the one you love?" Toguro spoke up. Wait. Love? Did he mean what I thought he meant? Was he referring to Genkai?

"No, because I won't let that happen." Yusuke replied, his tone more serious than I have ever heard before from him. "I look forward to growing old with her."

I gave a small smile. Keiko was so lucky. I was so happy for her.

"The fools!" I heard at a distance. I looked down to see Hiei speaking, his fist clenched. "One must never allow emotions to enter the ring. I should have taken this fight."

I sighed sadly. It was amazing how quickly he had rebuilt those concrete walls around his heart. There was nothing that could be done to fix it though until after the tournament, if we ever got the chance, that is.

Toguro and Yusuke started trading blows again. Yusuke had begun to charge his spirit gun but stopped and reverted to hand-to-hand at the last second. He was starting to try some strategy this time. Yusuke dodged a particularly heavy punch that caused the ring to implode with the impact. There was no ring left!

Yusuke had been sent flying into the air by the force, but while Toguro was still off guard from his killer punch, Yusuke took the opportunity to finish charging his spirit gun and sent one hell of a blast equal in force to a jumbo jet at Toguro. He didn't have time to block and the gun blast sent him flying clear out of the stadium!

Everyone was counting Toguro out at this point. Even Hiei and Kuwabara both agreed that Toguro was finished. Yusuke walked over to the hole in the stadium that Toguro was blasted from. Something was off and I knew Yusuke felt it too. So did I, and so did Suichi. I could still sense Toguro's energy. He was down but he was not out.

Toguro walked back into the stadium through the hole he had made, and I knew this was not going to be an easy battle at all. All Yusuke had managed to do was knock the sunglasses away. He was completely unharmed.

Yusuke smirked at Toguro. "Obviously that wasn't enough. Oh well playtime is over I guess."

Playtime?

Yusuke ripped off his green armbands to reveal glowing gold spirit cuffs. The cuffs worked by holding you at full spirit power and physical energy while also keeping your full energy contained within. Oh my, was he really that arrogant to think he could win this while wearing those cuffs?

"Avaitas!" He yelled as the cuffs broke. His full energy was finally released. Every ounce of the power Genkai had given him flared around him and filled the entire stadium. His energy aura took on the form of a phoenix, which screeched and circled the arena. I had never seen anything so beautiful before.

Yusuke charged forward, delivering a barrage of spirit-charged punches to Toguro. The combined force of Yusuke's punches actually sent Toguro flying to the ground. It was too much for him to take.

Yusuke flew forward and sent one powered up punch to Toguro's chest, causing a crater to form in the ground underneath. Now Yusuke and Toguro were inside the crater, Yusuke still punching Toguro.

Suddenly Yusuke stopped and flew quickly out of the crater and back to solid ground. Toguro also rose back out and stood to his feet. His expression was serious, almost scary. However, his muscles seemed to have deflated. Maybe this is what happened when Toguro was injured.

Toguro started to power up again, and this time the force of his demonic energy was worse than before. He was finally powering up to 100%. I was both thrilled and afraid of what I might see.

Tendrils of his energy flew into the stands, dissolving any living thing they touched. This is how Toguro powered up to higher levels, by using the spirit and souls of any other beings around him. One tendril of energy hit Puu's barrier directly, and even though his barrier shook violently, it held true.

The force of his energy was actually so strong it blocked out the light of the sun and the world around us was pitch black. That is something I had never seen before.

When the sun returned, Toguro was fully powered up to 100%. I looked down at Toguro with a kind of disturbed awe. So did everyone else.

Toguro snapped his fingers, and Yusuke was sent flying like he had been punched! He had shot a small energy bullet at Yusuke, and it was all he could do to block the bullets Toguro sent his way. It seemed Toguro had an infinite supply.

Toguro stopped shooting, and Yusuke jumped forward with a charged up punch the same strength as the one he used to punch Toguro into a crater. Toguro merely blocked it…with his thumb!

"What! That's crazy!" I said.

Yusuke went for a counter attack, only to have Toguro deliver a hard punch to Yusuke's arm. I was pretty sure that arm was now broken.

Yusuke charged his spirit gun and fired it. It was about the same strength as the first. Toguro only reflected it with his chest and knocked it away.

Toguro began taunting Yusuke, saying that his power was not strong enough, and that Yusuke lacked fear. He then threw Yusuke into the top of the stands

Toguro started powering up again, or so I thought. A light mist flew from each deceased demon in the stands and was absorbed into his body.

"Staying at top strength is demanding and my body has to devour souls. In twenty minutes everyone here will be dead. Are you going to stop me Urameshi?" Toguro taunted. Sakyo held up a remote and pressed a button. A steel barrier rose out of the ground as tall as the stadium, trapping us all inside. Several of the demons in the stands ran to the arena to try and defend themselves, but were quickly killed by Toguro with a mere flex of his energy. Yusuke returned to the arena floor to try to stop Toguro from killing everyone in sight.

We moved away from the stands to one of the passageways leading to the back hallways. We could still see what was happening but we were a little bit safer. Puu's barrier still held.

Toguro began punching Yusuke mercilessly. Keiko started screaming and crying in sheer panic. It was too much for her to see Yusuke like this. I tried comforting her, but she was completely unresponsive.

"I become a different person when I'm in my demon form, I'll do anything to get what I want." Toguro threw a huge energy blast straight for us! Puu's barrier would not be able to withstand a direct hit like this. I acted without thinking. I shoved Botan, Keiko, Shizuru, and Yukina behind me, flared my energy to its peak, and took a defensive stance in front of them. Even if we all died now, I would be the first.

At the last second, the blast curved to our left and crashed through the wall behind us, missing us by a couple feet. My knees shook as I collapsed to the floor. This was too much!

"Yukina, Botan, create a barrier while I'm gone." It was Genkai's voice coming from Puu. She had clearly possessed Puu's body, but how? Puu/Genkai flew off to the arena next to Toguro.

"Toguro, Yusuke is very predictable. To see his full power you must kill one of his friends while he's watching." She spoke. What? Genkai!

"No! You told me to commit to something and I chose my friends!" Yusuke screamed, both panicked and angry.

"Sorry Yusuke, but this is the world you stepped into, and if killing one means saving thousands, it's worth it." Puu/Genkai flew off to the sidelines, a very grumpy look on her face.

"I got that idea before but didn't like how it felt, but if nothing else can bring out your power…" Toguro scanned the sidelines. Looking in turn at Suichi, Hiei, Kuwabara, and Koenma. I got a sick feeling of dread.

"How about you Kuwabara. Urameshi seems the most protective of you. I'll make this quick." Toguro made his way slowly toward him. Suichi and Hiei crouched low ready to defend him as Yusuke tried to stop Toguro's advance with all he had, but it wasn't enough.

Kuwabara stepped forward and charged at Toguro with his spirit sword in hand, but he was no match. Toguro plunged his hand straight through Kuwabara's heart. Suichi ran over to catch him as he fell, but I could no longer sense his energy. He was already gone.

"Kazuma! No!" Yukina burst into tears and fell to her knees, tear gems clattering to the floor around her. Shizuru stood stunned, silent tears steadily falling. I was stunned; it felt like everything was happening in slow motion. My mind refused to believe what I was seeing. It was too much.

Yusuke had collapsed to the ground. Toguro asked if that was enough. Yusuke responded by standing up, an eerie light green aura surrounding him. He vanished into thin air and reappeared a second later behind Toguro, his aura turning from green to light blue to red. He was emitting both offensive and defensive energy and dispersing it throughout the stadium, protecting everyone within.

Yusuke's energy was now at least equal to Toguro. Yusuke could actually win now, but at what cost?

Yusuke and Toguro had a blow of words for a moment, Toguro claiming that Yusuke should give in to the power he had and give up on those he cares about. Yusuke refused.

"My friends helped me get where I am now." Yusuke said.

"I guess I need to kill another one of your friends." Toguro threatened, turning back toward the sidelines. Yusuke reached out and grabbed Toguro's arm, effectively stopping him and actually cracking the ground beneath with the force of his energy.

"I learned the value of what you left behind Toguro. I refuse to do the same."

"I see you are a disciple of Genkai to the end." Toguro teased.

Yusuke growled and vanished. I didn't even see him move. He appeared on the opposite side of Toguro, catching Toguro off guard and punching him hard. The punch sent Toguro flying across the stadium. As he came to a halt, Yusuke shot a spirit gun blast that again knocked him back. Toguro's neck was bent at a strange angle. Yusuke had hurt him!

Toguro made yet another increase, revealing at what he said was 100% was really 85%. The revelation did not faze Yusuke, who started powering up for what was his final spirit gun.

"You will never reach your true potential until you throw everything else away!" Toguro yelled.

"Stupid, you didn't throw it away, you ran from it like a frightened child. I won't run, and I will never give up." Yusuke finished powering up his final blast. Toguro moved into a position to block.

"SPIRIT GUN!" The blast was the largest I have ever thought possible. It was so bright it nearly blinded me and I couldn't look directly at it. I could actually feel the heat from the blast all the way up where I stood.

Toguro was having a lot of trouble holding the blast back. It slowly pushed him backwards for several moments. I could see his muscles buckle and bleed under the force. Toguro screamed loudly and the blast dissipated.

Yusuke passed out; he had no more energy left. Problem was, Toguro was still standing. This couldn't be good.

Suddenly, Toguro's muscles shattered and exploded around him, leaving him back in his human form looking very beaten and worn. Toguro fell to the ground. He was dead before he hit the earth. After a moment, Yusuke rose to his feet, the winner.

Koto and Juri ran up. "Winner of the tournament, Team Urameshi!" They said together. Hiei, Suichi, and Koenma ran toward Yusuke, Suichi managing to catch Yusuke and keep him awake before he passed out again.

"Keiko? Are you okay?" I heard Yukina ask. I focused my attention to help Botan bring Keiko back around. The poor girl had gone catatonic from the stress.

Yusuke saw the fallen Kuwabara, and that brought everything back for him. It was sad to watch. He actually cried as he apologized blaming himself for not doing enough.

Suddenly, Kuwabara rose to his feet. Wait, WHAT?

"Hahaha captain faker! That's me! I think you have groveled enough for one day Urameshi." Kuwabara was laughing while Suichi looked slightly uncomfortable.

"I tried to tell you Yusuke, Kuwabara never died, Toguro missed his vitals but he still figured you needed some good shock treatment to bring out your powers. And that's about it." Suichi gave a nervous laugh.

Yusuke launched himself at Kuwabara, beating the holy crap out of him. Everyone's reactions were quite funny, but none more so than Hiei. His expression was priceless.

"Keep beating him and he will die, Yusuke. That's kind of against the point." Koenma spoke up. Yusuke stopped.

"I'm so relieved to see that Kazuma is okay." Yukina said, smiling.

"Me too, he should join the acting department." Botan laughed.

"Yeah, then he can at least play the fool." Shizuru said between drags of her cigarette. I knew it was her way of showing she was just as relieved as the rest of us.

Sakyo held up his remote and pressed another button. A very loud alarm started blaring over the loudspeaker with the announcement "Self-destruct activated, stadium detonation in fifteen minutes."

"Oh, like this isn't cliché." I commented darkly and continued to try to shake Keiko awake. Small bits of the stadium were raining down on us, but not enough to cause any real damage yet.

Kuwabara made it to us first, closely followed by Suichi, Hiei, and Yusuke.

Yukina ran towards Kuwabara. "There's something wrong with Keiko, she…" She screamed. A large, heavy slab of the stadium wall had broken loose and was falling on Yukina. Kuwabara and I both moved to save her, but neither of us made it in time.

The dust cleared, and it was Hiei who had grabbed her and shoved her out of the way of the concrete slab. He was the only one fast enough to help her.

"Thanks so much, Hiei." Yukina said softly and he helped her to her feet.

"Yusuke, Keiko isn't well!" Botan cried.

"What?" Yusuke yelled as he ran over to us.

"Post-traumatic stress, and she excels at it." I commented.

"Keiko! Keiko I'm sorry, but we don't have time for this!" Yusuke screamed as he started slapping her around. I gasped aloud in shock.

Keiko woke up and responded with a huge slap of her own so strong it very nearly knocked him unconscious.

"I think he's dead." Kuwabara said, poking Yusuke.

"Stadium detonation, five minutes!" The loudspeaker cried over the alarm.

"Lets go guys!" I said as we started running for the nearest exit.

The hallway led to an exit blocked by lots of rubble. None of us had the kind of energy strong enough to clear the way.

The rubble exploded! As the dust settled, I saw Chu with Rinku on his shoulder, with Touya and Jin standing beside them.

"How goes it mate? Can't let our champion team get 'urt now can we? Hahahaha!" I had to respect Chu; he was a decent guy.

We followed Chu toward the exit. Keiko paused for a moment to pick up Puu, who was in danger of being trampled. She turned to run back our way when she tripped and fell. I ran over and pulled her up and out of harms way. I went to follow when part of the ceiling started to fall on top of me. I braced myself knowing I couldn't move in time.

All I felt was a crazy blast of warm wind and then the feeling of falling. I hit the ground stunned for a moment. I opened my eyes only to be met with a pair of red eyes betraying concern. Hiei had grabbed me and pushed me out of the way of the collapsing ceiling, however, my left leg was still trapped under a piece of concrete. Hiei moved it off me.

He helped me up and I went to put pressure on my leg and all it did was give out. I hit the floor once again. My ankle hurt badly.

"Stop. You broke it. Don't move or you will make it worse." Hiei bent over and picked me up gently and ran with all of his speed with me in his arms.

"Thank you Hiei." I said quietly, weak from the pain.

"Hn." He grunted. Was he still upset?

"Hiei, I'm sorry…." I said weakly.

He sighed. "You have nothing to be sorry for." He said in his usual tone before I passed out in his arms.

"I'm the one who should be." He muttered in a much gentler tone. I wasn't sure if I had actually heard that part, I was too out of it.


	13. Chapter 13 So Not Ready for This

Ch. 13:

* * *

I opened my eyes to find myself still being carried by Hiei back to the hotel. Apparently we all made it out alive, thank goodness.

We got back to the room and Hiei carefully laid me down on the bed. Yukina came over and started healing my ankle. No one said a word for several minutes.

Yusuke suddenly passed out cold on the floor. Kuwabara picked him up and laid him down in his bed on the boy's side of the room. Poor guy, having to deal with a loss of someone he was close to on top of having to worry about fighting to save the rest of us. He deserved a long break after we got home.

Home. I never thought I would get to say that word again. Finally, things would be getting back to normal.

Or as normal as things could be hanging around this bunch.

* * *

The next morning my ankle felt normal, so I went for a walk with the girls at the beach. Botan was carrying Genkai's hat. We found a pretty rock formation overlooking the bluff heading down to the water. Botan placed the hat in front of the rock and we all took a moment of silence.

"Goodbye Genkai." Keiko said sadly.

"Goodbye." The rest of replied. We moved on to finish our walk. The boat to the mainland would be coming for us soon and we didn't need to miss it.

After an hour we went back to the room to finish packing our things. We finished and came downstairs to the lobby where the guys were waiting for us.

"Oh look, the tone-deaf sirens." Yusuke commented moodily. I felt too sorry for him to even glare at him.

After Shizuru and Botan tricked Kuwabara into carrying their bags, we headed out to the loading dock to catch the ship to the mainland.

Hiei walked quietly beside me. He suddenly reached out and grabbed the larger of the two bags I was carrying and continued on past me. I raised my eyebrow but did not say anything as I followed him.

I knew he was a telepath, so perhaps I could talk to him that way instead.

'Are you okay' I thought in my head. Somehow I knew he would hear.

'Hn. Yes of course.' He replied shortly without even turning around.

'Look I hate this awkwardness. Can we at least try to talk about this?' I asked.

'It can wait.' He said in a moody tone, and I knew that right now I would get nowhere with him.

We stood at the waters edge waiting for the boat to pull in. Suddenly, we all heard a familiar voice behind us. We all turned.

"You're just gonna leave the old fossil behind, huh?" It was Genkai! She was alive! I couldn't believe it!

"Genkai!" Botan yelled as she ran over to hug her. We all followed except for Yusuke, who stood in place stunned out of his wits.

"You rubbed off on me dimwit I died like you. Half-assed." Genkai gave a mischievous grin to her favorite student.

"Come here you beautiful hag!" Yusuke screamed as he too ran up to hug Genkai.

We made our way onto the ship with all of our members safe and sound. I was hanging out on the lower deck with Yukina and Shizuru when Genkai walked up.

"I need a word with you, child." She said referring to me. Yukina and Shizuru went over to chat with Botan and Suichi.

"Yes Master Genkai?" I asked respectfully.

"Well as you know, Yusuke's training under me is pretty much finished now that he has the secret to my power, and it gets pretty lonely at my compound most days. I would like to take over the majority of your training. You have a lot of potential, child. You just haven't realized it yet." She explained.

I bowed to her. "It would be an honor to train under you."

"Very well. Meet me at my compound in one week, we shall start then."

"Thank you, and I'm so happy that you are okay." I told her.

"Me too, child, me too." She smiled as she turned her gaze out to the water.

"There is turmoil in your heart, Kurisa. Would you like to talk about it?" Genkai said with a small smile.

"Eh, its nothing I can't handle, just some stupid moody fire demon." I grumbled.

Genkai gave an understanding laugh, but then turned serious.

"When I was…gone…I was amazed at what I could see that I probably would not have been able to when alive. He does actually care for you, you know. He's not upset with you at all." She said.

"But then, why won't…" I started, confused.

"Don't you turn into a dimwit on me too, Kurisa!" Genkai turned to me, annoyance showing on her face before her expression softened. She continued. "He is avoiding the situation because he is afraid but doesn't know how to admit it to himself. He is feeling as though he cannot care for you the way he feels you deserve to be cared for, and that is because of both his past and the fact that he doesn't really know how. I would imagine he's never taken an interest in anyone before. And because of that reason, he is also afraid he will do or say something to hurt you, and he doesn't want that."

"I guess that makes sense. So Shizuru is probably right when she suggested I give him space?" I asked.

"Yes, but don't avoid him either. Like you, he has issues with rejection. Show him, in your own way, that you are still there for him. But yes, let him work this out on his own. Nothing you say or do at this point can change anything, only he can." Genkai smiled. "It will work out, child. The only other person in the three worlds I have ever known him to show this kind of attention to is Yukina. He will come around."

"Thanks for the advice, Master Genkai. It really does help." I said. I would just have to stick this out the best I could.

* * *

It had been a month since we arrived back to our normal daily lives. Suichi and I had a lot of schoolwork to catch up on. I even heard Yusuke was reluctantly attending school on a regular basis as well. I sighed. He was really a smart guy and would do well if he just applied himself more.

It was test result day that Friday, and I walked to the result board to see how I had placed during that week's tests.

"Lets see, Kurisa Minamino. Well I know that name well. You must be Suichi's younger sister." My teacher smiled at me as I approached the board. "And top test scores must run in the family. Top scores in your class, as usual. Keep this up and you won't have to choose a school, they will compete for you." He gave a good-natured laugh before turning to the next student.

I left to walk next door to the high school where my brother attended. I knew where his last class was. It was biology class. I made my way through the hall and nearly crashed into a tall boy with glasses and short curly black hair.

"Oh, Kaitou, I apologize." I said politely. I knew he was one of the top students at the high school.

"Hm, little Minamino…how charming." Kaitou grumbled before walking away. I stared after him.

Hm, strange guy.

I found Suichi's class only to notice him chatting with two female classmates. They giggled for some unknown reason and walked out of the room just as I walked in.

"Ah, Kuri! Yes I am almost ready to leave. I have just one last task to attend to."

Suichi had volunteered to replenish supplies in the chemistry lab. I decided to give him a hand.

"So how has training been going with Genkai?" He asked.

"Slow. Frustratingly so. I am noticing that I'm physically stronger, but I'm not sure that my powers are increasing any." I replied dejectedly.

"It will come, Kuri don't worry. You kind of plateaued a bit during the tournament as well while working with Yukina." He reassured me.

"I also wanted to ask you about Hiei as well while I have the chance." Suichi went on. My eyes widened. I had not told him anything about it.

"You seem to forget that I am a fox demon. If I want to find out about something, it's not hard." He smiled lightheartedly all the same. "I know what happened. I also know the advice Genkai gave you. It is sound advice."

"I agree, so what do you want to know?" I asked.

"Why you haven't seen him or spoken to him for the past month. Genkai and Shizuru did advise you not to completely avoid him." He inquired.

"I'm not avoiding him at all. More like he is avoiding me. I don't know why he would." I said. It was true. I had seen him on only two occasions at Genkai's temple since we returned from the tournament, and each time I attempted to even say 'hi', he would vanish.

"I just decided at that point to let it be. When he's ready to speak to me, he will."

"Hiei is a more complicated person than people initially think. I would imagine his mind is buzzing with different thoughts and emotions that are only confusing him more." Suichi said. "All the same, keep trying."

"I will. I haven't given up yet." I said with a small smile as we finished up in the lab.

"Are you going to be home this evening?" Suichi asked.

"Sorry brother, I have plans tonight with some friends. I won't be out very late, though."

"It's good that you have made school friends to occupy your time. I will see you at home, then." Suichi waved goodbye as I left.

* * *

I waited inside the den of the Rikurakubi mansion with Genkai, watching everything that transpired on screen.

"They are learning a valuable lesson in territory, child. And so are you." Genkai said as we watched. I knew that my friends and family were in no danger at all, but something about Kaitou still rubbed me the wrong way. It may be how he reacted to me at school earlier, or it may have been because of the fact that he very nearly beat my brother at his taboo game, which would have caused the whole mission to fail.

Finally, my friends managed to "rescue" Yusuke, and it was time to reveal ourselves.

"Genkai, I figured it was you behind this ruse." Suichi said.

"Why don't you explain, fox boy!" Yusuke said irritably.

"If they truly wanted to they could have defeated us, Yusuke. That's why I knew whoever was behind this meant no harm, knew us well, and wanted to tell us something." My brother explained.

"Exactly." Genkai spoke up. "It's a lesson you needed to learn. These kids have the power of territory and sometimes your physical strength will not be enough. If you used that lump 3 feet above your ass you may have held on to your souls."

Hiei let out an annoyed grunt, glaring at Genkai. She turned and glared right back.

"Make that two feet for you." She chided at him impatiently. Yusuke busted out laughing at the news that Hiei had lost his soul momentarily to Kaitou. I giggled lightly myself.

"So, Kurisa, what do you have to do with all of this?" Yusuke yelled at me grumpily. I shot a glare at him before replying.

"As I have been training with Genkai for the past month, I knew these boys for a while and knew of the ruse. Having me join you in this would have been pointless, but yes I did give Genkai the idea for the location and for some of the obstacles you had to face as part of my own training in this topic." I explained calmly.

"So why did you guys orchestrate this?" Yusuke asked.

"Sakyo's plan from the dark tournament did not die with him. I'm sure you noticed the demon insects around the city?" I explained.

"You mean?" Suichi began.

"Yes, someone is creating a tunnel between demon and human world, and it's getting bigger every moment." Genkai finished.

Botan's briefcase started to ring. It was Koenma.

"So why didn't you tell us all this before, toddler breath!" Yusuke yelled at the briefcase communicator.

"Because it is the highest classified intelligence from spirit world, but I guess I do need to inform you. The tunnel is at stage two. Stage one means that demon insects can pass through. Stage two happens when normal humans discover they have supernatural powers. Stage three is when it gets bad. Low class, violent demons appear to prey on humans. Stage four means total passage. Any A or S class demons can pass through." Koenma explained. We all stood around the briefcase stunned.

"The tunnel will be finished in three weeks. Once it hits two kilometers, it will stabilize." Koenma finished darkly.

"Well we will just have to go kick their asses now it looks like." Yusuke turned to leave. Genkai charged her energy and lifted one hand in the air. Yusuke flipped upside down in midair like a puppet on a string. Genkai dropped her hand and Yusuke crashed to the ground. It was kind of funny to see.

"What the hell, you old hag?" Yusuke yelled, annoyed.

"Dimwit! Have you learned nothing! If you go in not knowing who they are, how many, or what powers they have, its suicide!" Genkai yelled to her student.

"If these fools are finished, I have a question." Hiei stepped forward, a very irritated look on his face. "What class am I?"

"Hiei…" Suichi started.

"Hn, it's a fair question." Hiei interrupted with a glare.

Koenma sighed. "Fine Hiei. Toguro was ranked an upper B class. At the end of the dark tournament you were ranked at mid-B class."

Hiei looked more than annoyed. He looked angry. He turned to leave.

"Hiei…" I began gently. He interrupted me, casting all of us a cold glare.

"You have your fox and your clown to help, detective. I'm a moot point." Hiei stated. I only just detected a slight note of hurt in his tone.

"So you are just going to walk away, punk?" Kuwabara yelled angrily.

"I will not hinder your cause, but I will not help it either." Hiei said coldly.

"Hiei, don't leave." I said quietly. I felt hurt. I thought he cared more about us than this, about me.

He did not meet my eyes as he walked out the door, I'm sure he read my thoughts at that moment, and he vanished out of range of my senses.

"He will come rescue us at the end when we need him most." Yusuke said with a smirk.

"So what now?" Kuwabara asked.

"We meet at sunrise and begin scouting. Everyone get a good night's sleep, you will need it." Genkai said ominously. I took that moment to take my leave storming down the hallway toward the bedrooms, slamming the door shut behind me.


	14. Chapter 14 Apocalypse - Please

And Im back with an update. Sorry about the delay guys. I had some personal drama to deal with, but now Ive got my head back in the game. So we carry on...

Ch. 14:

* * *

The next morning I set out with Suichi, Kuwabara, Botan, and Kaitou to investigate the center of the growing portal. Our calculations took us to a field in the city park of Mushiori City.

"I don't see anything unusual." Kuwabara spoke up.

"Observant considering you've lost your spirit awareness." Botan said irritably.

"Hey! I'll get it back!" He yelled.

"We are definitely standing on the center of the distortion. If we do not see anyone on the surface…" Suichi trailed off in thought.

"Then they must be below it." Kaitou finished.

Suichi suddenly turned and ran to a spot behind a storage building. I scanned the area with my senses but did not sense anything unusual.

"Did you see someone?" I asked.

"More like someone saw us." Suichi replied ominously.

He flipped open his communicator and buzzed Koenma.

"The surface of the center point is not occupied, however, we have reason to believe they may have encamped underground. May I get a depth analysis of this area?" Suichi reported to Koenma.

"Yes, Kurama, I'll have it for you soon." Koenma replied before breaking contact.

"Lets find Yusuke's group and reconvene." He said.

We took off in the direction of the mansion, which was our designated meeting place.

"So, are we still being followed?" Kuwabara asked.

"No, which is why we need to find Yusuke soon. His group is probably under attack." Suichi said.

A police car with lights and sirens blaring sped past us heading for Mushiori hospital.

"I think if we follow that police car, we will find him." I informed the group. We took off running in the direction of the hospital. A moment later, we all saw Yusuke's spirit gun blast rocketing from the direction of the hospital. Yep, he was definitely there.

When we arrived at the hospital, the eerie silence that met us gave me chills.

"You three stay here." Suichi ordered to Botan, Kuwabara, and Kaitou. "Kurisa, take the front entrance. I will go in from the rooftop."

I nodded and ran toward the front doors as Suichi used his rose whip to hoist himself to the roof of the building.

As soon as I entered, about a hundred demon insects swarmed me. The insects outside did not openly attack, but these did, which I knew was not good.

I powered up and summoned a barrier of fire between the insects and myself. They were incinerated as soon as they hit my shield. I took off running in the direction of the flux of energy I felt. I was in someone's territory.

I met Suichi on the fifth floor. He was slashing insects left and right with his whip. The elevator in front of us up opened and inside was Keiko and Shizuru!

"What are you two doing here?" He asked them.

"Suichi! Keiko is sick!" I exclaimed and ran over to her. She had the same symptoms as everyone else in the hospital.

"Take care of them, Kurisa. Yusuke needs my help." He ran off down the hallway. I stretched my barrier to include the girls and Puu, who I just noticed was with them.

After several minutes of watching over Keiko, the green tint to her skin faded back to normal and she woke up.

"Are you okay?" I asked her as I helped her to her feet.

"Yeah, I think so. Just tired." She said wearily.

"C'mon, lets find the boys." Shizuru took off. We followed her until we ran into the others

"Keiko? What are you doing here?" Yusuke asked her. Then he glared at Puu.

"Puu! I swear you are like a danger tour guide!"

"So what happened to our big baddie?" I asked.

"He will be fine, but he almost wasn't." Genkai replied, glancing at Yusuke.

"You did what you had to, Yusuke. The right thing." Suichi reassured him.

"Lets get some rest at home tonight. We will regroup as soon as we get more information." Genkai announced.

We made our way back to our respective homes before the police could come to question us.

* * *

"WHAT?! First Hiei, then Kuwabara, and now Kurama too! Ill just do this damn thing myself!" Kuwabara had decided to take the day off to go to a concert with his school friends, leaving Yusuke to deal with this situation alone. He was not happy.

"Yusuke, scream in my face again, and I'll turn you into a human popsicle." I warned him in a calm, dangerous tone. I glared daggers at him.

"So you're saying Kurama isn't going to help?" Yusuke had backed off and lowered his voice, but he was still obviously angry.

"I told you, he left for spirit world. He's going to try to get more information from Koenma. He mentioned that he felt something was off about the information Koenma gave him." I repeated for what I felt was the ten thousandth time.

"You need to go look after Kuwabara." Genkai grumbled at Yusuke.

Yusuke growled. "I can't deal with this crap right now. I'm going to the arcade!" He said grumpily as he stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind him.

He had just found out that the doomsday portal would be finished in a week due to our discovery about the center being underground. Yusuke was stressed and angry. I couldn't blame him really. I almost felt bad about threatening him.

Almost.

"Unless he really is an absolute idiot he didn't really go to that arcade. He is too protective of Kuwabara." Genkai muttered.

"How well do you know him?" Keiko said in a disbelieving tone with an eyebrow raised. I loved my teacher and admired her wisdom, but I had to go with Keiko on this one.

Genkai got a very uncomfortable look on her face before running out of the door behind Yusuke.

"DIMWIT!"

Genkai had found Yusuke and dragged him back to his apartment. What followed next was quite an amusing confrontation.

Genkai kicked Yusuke in the chest so hard that he went sailing out of the front door onto the balcony outside.

"Your friend is in possible danger, alone, without use of his powers with crazed killers stalking us, so you choose to play video games?!" She screamed at him.

"If his powers are gone, what does it matter, you senile old hag? They won't come after a non-fighter." Yusuke attempted to defend himself. His efforts proved futile.

"His powers aren't gone, you imbecile. They are developing. His body sensed the changing tides and began to prepare for it without his knowing. He is a human psychic with powers unparalleled. Once the enemy figures this out, he will be their first target rather than their last." Genkai argued.

It was Yusuke's turn to look uncomfortable this time. He ran from the apartment once again, this time we knew he was going to look for Kuwabara. Botan and myself ran after him.

We ran in the direction of the concert, hoping we would meet him on the street. We ran for several minutes with no luck. Suddenly, I felt this huge blast of energy behind us and to our left. Yusuke and Botan felt it too and turned around.

"That energy! What the hell is that?" Yusuke asked.

"I don't know. Hurry." I said as I took off in the direction the energy came from. Yusuke and Botan followed.

After a moment we came across a pile of bodies lying on the sidewalk. It was Kuwabara and whom I recognized as three of his school friends. The fifth was a boy I did not recognize but was not much older than myself.

Botan summoned her oar and I put the strange kid and Kuwabara on it with her. I supported one of Kuwabara's friends and Yusuke grabbed the other two and made our way back to Yusuke's apartment.

The kid woke up the next morning. I healed the worst of his injuries and Shizuru and Keiko bandaged the rest. Yusuke, Suichi, and Genkai were questioning him about his involvement with this portal. Suichi had returned last night from spirit world, but hadn't yet shared any new information with us.

The kid's name was Mitari. He was working alongside the mastermind of this whole operation to open the portal, Shinobu Sensui. He had been sent out, much like Sniper and the Doctor, to take us out one by one.

He had seen a tape called chapter black. I had no idea what that was. Suichi explained.

"It is a compilation of every evil and terrible deed ever committed by humankind. It is said to run thousands of hours and can corrupt the mind of anyone who sees it. I know Hiei has been trying to get hold of that tape for years. Even I once expressed a desire to see it, but not anymore of course. It is kept secure in a vault in the records department in spirit world. I had no idea it was relevant to this case."

It certainly sounded like a bad film. I shuddered at the idea of something like that in the wrong hands.

Genkai tapped me on the shoulder and motioned for me to follow her. I walked with her out into the hallway out of earshot.

"I'm sending you out on a side mission." Genkai told me. "One that is highly important to the success of this case. It may not be easy, but I believe you will be successful."

"What do you need me to do, master?" I asked.

"I need you to set out, alone, and search everywhere around the city and the outskirts. You need to find Hiei."

I shut my eyes tight. Hearing his name right now did not help.

"You heard him. He doesn't want to help and I can't force him to. He doesn't care what happens to us." I said dejectedly.

"Somewhere in your heart, you know that isn't true." Genkai said gently.

I stayed silent. I wanted to believe that he really did care about us, but at the time I was really having a hard time wrapping my brain around that.

"Go find him. I have a feeling he will listen to you more than anyone else, and I know you will do what you must to convince him to rejoin us." Genkai encouraged. I bowed and left the apartment to start my search.

I used my wind energy to propel me up into the sky and opened up my senses. Genkai was right in saying this wouldn't be easy…in more ways than one.

I stayed high up in the sky as I passed over the city, and then dipped below the treetops once I reached the forest on the outskirts.

Hours passed, yet I saw nor felt no sign of him. It was late afternoon, so I decided to make my way back to the apartment.

I landed in a clearing in the trees to rest up a while before making my way back. After a moment I heard a rustle in the bushes behind me.

It was a couple of birds, nothing too scary. I laughed inwardly. This forest gave me a sort of creepy feeling.

I heard another rustle in the bushes off to my right. I turned to look thinking it was another bird.

It was three kitchen knives! And they were headed right for me!

I drew my kukris and deflected the knives and ran. The knives reconvened and gave chase. What the hell was going on?

It hit me. Sniper, of course. He had to be nearby. But why did I not feel him power up his territory?

A heavy force suddenly knocked me sideways and to the ground. The three knives imbedded themselves hilt-deep in a tree a few feet in front of me. I looked up to see what happened.

It was Hiei. He had knocked me out of the way in order to stop the knives from turning me into shish kebab.

"Thanks." I said quietly.

"Hn." He said as he pulled me to my feet.

"Is he close? Sniper that is." I asked him.

"No, he is focusing his attention elsewhere now." Hiei replied.

"Listen, Hiei, I have been trying to find you. As you can see, things are getting kind of chaotic." He looked away and stared pointedly at the ground. "We need you." I said gently. I decided to start by trying to be nice.

"You are angry with me. I can tell." Hiei said, turning his gaze to me. Am I that obvious?

"That's neither here or there right now. In a week that tunnel is going to open and this world, my world, will be destroyed, and don't you dare say you don't care what happens!" I kind of yelled the last part. I couldn't help it. I was still hurt.

His expression was one of shock for a moment. I don't think he had ever heard me raise my voice like that.

"Why?" He asked, his tone and his features softening some.

I looked pointedly at the ground before responding.

"Because it's like saying you don't care what happens to me, and that kind of hurts to have someone you care about say that to you." I said.

Hiei went silent, almost as if he were trying to figure out what to say to that. Was it really that hard for him? Maybe it was.

"I still don't see why I should go back." He stated. I felt a pang of hurt at his words. "They have shown me that they don't need me. I don't need them either." He turned to leave.

"I beg to differ." I glared at him as he turned to face me. "If we didn't need you, then I wouldn't even be here right now." If he wanted to make this a game of hurtful comments, I could play that game too. A look of pain momentarily flashed across his face. I still really didn't like hurting him even though he kind of deserved it right now.

"And you need them too. You can't deny that." I fixed my stare on Hiei as his eyes narrowed. "You know its true. You were a D-class demon when Yusuke first fought you and beat you. If that hadn't happened, you would have never realized your own weaknesses. In less than a year you rose to a B-class level ever since you started working with Yusuke. You can get stronger, but you also know you can't do it without them. Now look me in the eyes and tell me I'm wrong." I challenged him. He needed this little reality slap in the face right now.

He kept his gaze to the ground. He almost seemed a bit shamed.

Suddenly, we both felt a huge rumble off in the distance. Hiei and I both made our way over in the direction of the noise. Hiei suddenly took off with incredible speed.

I heard and felt a huge explosion in the valley of trees below. It even sent dust high up on the cliff where I stood. When the dust settled, Hiei had a half-conscious Yusuke by his hair back on the cliff top.

"Kurisa. Get out of sight. Now!" I barely registered the fact that Hiei had used my actual name for the first time before I did as he said and ducked into the bushes behind me.

I saw why he had me hide. The psychic known as Sniper appeared wielding a gun and he was staring down Hiei.

"I have no beef with you, stranger. Now, out of my way." Yet Hiei continued to walk in Snipers direction, right in the path of the gun.

Sniper fired, but hit nothing as Hiei dodged the bullet, literally. Next thing I knew, Hiei had his katana halfway to the hilt in Sniper's chest!

I gasped aloud. Yusuke yelled.

"Relax, you two, I missed his vitals if you're so concerned. Apparently I'm not even allowed to kill the bad humans either." Hiei grumbled before removing his katana and sheathing it across his back. Sniper fell to the ground. He was breathing. He was only unconscious.

I stepped out of the bushes and tended to the wound in Snipers chest, listening in on the conversation between Yusuke and Hiei.

"The portal to demon world is nearly complete. Maybe I will return home." Hiei said softly.

Yusuke shakily rose up from the ground. Hiei glanced his way.

"You are in no shape to act the hero." Hiei stated calmly.

"Yeah, well someone has to. No one else will save Kuwabara and the world, especially you remember?" Yusuke glared in Hiei's direction before making his way unsteadily to the path off the cliff top.

Suddenly, Hiei moved. I barely saw him unsheathe his katana and dodge with blinding speed. He took down Yusuke to his knees quickly and set his katana to Yusuke's throat.

"HIEI! WHAT THE HELL?" I yelled at him. What the hell was he doing?

Hiei ignored me and kept his glare fixed to Yusuke.

"For the second time today I hold your life in my hands. Do I have to kill you to keep you from being foolish?" Hiei taunted.

Yusuke glared back and growled. "You just might have to."

Hiei growled back and removed his cloak. "Ready?"

"BRING IT ON, BITCH!" Yusuke yelled as they swung at each other.

Both were fighting at about equal strength, with Yusuke just a tad bit stronger perhaps. They both dodged blows but both got in just as many hits.

The fight ended in a draw with Yusuke tired out and Hiei with a slight cut on his right arm that soaked the bandages in blood.

Hiei turned around and put his cloak back on and began to walk away.

"When you fought Toguro, he went out of his way to bring out your power. Sensui just wants you dead. Remember that. So go save the world, or don't. I don't really care."

Yusuke burst into seemingly random laughter, which seemed to confuse Hiei.

"You act like 'Oh I don't care' but if you really didn't care, you wouldn't have tried to kick my ass right now, softy." Yusuke teased him, grinning.

"Look, in all seriousness, I need your help on this one." Yusuke said sincerely.

"Like I told you, detective, I could care less." Hiei continued to walk away.

"Listen, if you help us, I can get you the chapter black tape." Hiei turned in interest at this. I groaned inwardly. "I know you have been wanting to see it. And trust me, with the aborted apocalypse, that tape will be the last thing on Koenma's mind. I can get it for you."

"Hn, deal. You know you can be clever when you put your mind to mischief." He smirked.

Suddenly, two low class and very ugly demons landed near us. Yusuke stepped forward and Hiei reached out and pushed me behind him protectively, katana at the ready. Deep down I kind of appreciated this new protective side of Hiei, but I had to roll my eyes. I could easily incinerate these two with a snap of my fingers.

"Well, Yusuke, I think I found another reason why I should help you defeat Sensui. If we don't, we will be overrun with these weak and ugly disgraces for demons." Hiei stated coldly.

It took one hit from Yusuke and Hiei to kill our two intruders. Yusuke and his powered up fist and Hiei with his katana.

"I thought I couldn't stand humans, but I think I hate these tourists even more." Hiei commented. His hand was gripping my arm and pulling me along beside him. I focused my energy in my arm into an electrical jolt and he let go quickly from the shock. Without a word I stormed off to a distance, powered up my wind energy and left to find the others. Who was I trying to fool? Hiei hadn't changed at all and probably never would.


	15. Chapter 15 To Play the Game

Happy thanksgiving everyone!

Ch. 15:

* * *

I was pissed off, but even more than that, I was sad. Hiei had his moments where you may think he is finally making progress in his way of thinking. then he will say something hurtful to just totally obliterate whatever hopes you had.

Then I remembered Suichi's words to me so many weeks ago.

'_He has a habit of saying one thing, but really meaning another. You have to read between the lines with him.'_

But I had thought he and I were past those word games. Maybe I was fooling myself to think he could be honest with me.

Then a dark voice in my head spoke up: _'Maybe he is.'_

Ugh. Everyone who knew what happened told me that kiss had to mean something to him, or he wouldn't have gone for it in the first place. I had already admitted to myself that it had meant something to me. But maybe it really did mean nothing to him, or that he regretted it.

Then I remembered…Hiei is a demon. I'm only a human. Maybe because of that fact, I had no right to hold any expectations of him. The thought depressed me, because in such a short time I had started to grow a bond with him. Maybe I just had to let it go.

I found the rest of the team just a few yards from the cave entrance that led underground. Apparently that is where Sensui and his team were hiding.

"Where's Kuwabara?" I asked.

"He has been captured. Apparently, Sensui can use his sword to cut the Kakai barrier and release the higher class demons." Suichi informed me.

"But Kuwabara would never help them!" I exclaimed. Kuwabara could act like an idiot sometimes, but he was smart in his own way and fiercely loyal to our side.

"No, he wouldn't. But they have a psychic who can consume his powers by consuming him. Gourmet." Mitari continued. "If he won't help them willingly, they will make him."

"We also only have two days until the tunnel is complete." Genkai finished. I felt stunned. Two days? What happened to our week?

"I'd say two days is optimistic, judging by the smell." A familiar voice behind me spoke.

"Yeah, so I'd say its time to kick some ass a little early."

I turned. It was Yusuke and Hiei. Damn, I guess I hadn't gotten as far away from them as I thought.

"Yusuke, Hiei, Kurama, and Mitari. You will be the first wave." Genkai said. "And be smart. Remember your lessons I taught you earlier!"

"Yeah, don't get caught. I got it, grandma." The four set off toward the cave entrance.

We waited outside the mouth of the cave. After an hour, Yusuke and his team returned.

"Amanuma is the Gamemaster. He can recreate any game in real life. He has blocked the way to Sensui by recreating Goblin City." Mitari informed us. "You all will have to come with us."

We all made our way back into the cave, guided by Mitari and my brother's lantern plants.

We came across a gate. It was certainly the gate from Goblin City. As we were now at least seven, we could enter.

"I am the Goblin King! Lets play!" Amanuma was quite an obnoxious little kid.

"Who has played before?" Suichi asked us.

Yusuke, Suichi, Kaitou, Mitari, Genkai and myself raised our hands.

"Who has actually won?" He continued.

Only Suichi, Kaitou, Mitari, and Genkai's hands remained up. Yeah I tried out games, but I wasn't that great.

Amanuma spun the slot machine that would tell us which game we would start with. It was level seven tennis. Mitari stepped forward.

It was a close game, but in the end Mitari pulled ahead and won his round, even with the brat kid taunting him the entire time.

"Good job, Mitari." I whispered to him. He smiled. He really was a nice boy.

Amanuma spun the reels again. The next game was level six Battle Heli. Genkai called this game hers.

Genkai was awesome! She took no damage as she expertly dodged enemies and blew up the final boss of the round.

"Yeah! Two-zero! What a way to start!" Yusuke exclaimed.

The next game was Level one King of the Mountain Battle.

"Yeah a fighting game! Fortune taps at my elbow!" Yusuke said confidently as he stepped forward.

"That was me telling you not to be stupid." Genkai muttered. I giggled at that.

Yusuke worried us at first, much to the ire of Genkai. He lost his first of three lives quickly. Even I knew to hit the bull's eyes on their chests. But eventually Yusuke figured out how to deal damage and ended up scraping out a victory for our team. It was now three to zero.

It was now the kids turn to play in place of the Goblin King. Suichi and Kaitou agreed to take the two final rounds.

The first round was trivia. Kaitou took this round and stepped forward.

Amanuma let Kaitou have the first five points! Kaitou was awesome at this round. He answered correctly after buzzing in at only the first word. After Kaitou collected five points, Amanuma started to play.

Amanuma buzzed in at only the announcement of question six and got the correct answer! The kid had memorized the question sequence! Amanuma continued to get four in a row this way.

Hiei stepped forward and drew his katana.

"That may not be a good idea. Remember when you tried to hit Kaitou?" Mitari asked.

"Then at least I'll know I tried." Hiei shot forward, slashing the screen in two, which displayed the trivia questions. However, the screen sealed itself back, and the game continued. Kaitou ended up losing, so it was now Suichi's turn.

Amanuma spun the reels one last time. The last game was Three-Seven Puzzle. Suichi stepped forward.

Suichi asked him if he knew of Sensui's full intentions when it came to this game. Amanuma answered that all he knew was that he was only playing a game. Amanuma did not know Sensui's reason for using him. Sensui knew Amanuma would die if he lost. He didn't care as long as it stalled us long enough. It was kind of sad and I did feel sorry for the kid, but we had to do what we must to save the world.

Amanuma was too shaken to play at his normal skill level, which caused him to lose. He fell to the ground, dead.

The kid's territory dissolved around us, Amanuma's body was all that was left as evidence of the game. My brother stood in place and didn't move. His expression was the darkest I had ever seen.

"Suichi?" I said gently. I approached him carefully, placing a hand on his arm. "You did what you had to, don't blame yourself."

He ignored me and continued on his way through the cave toward Sensui. He wouldn't admit it, but I could tell having to kill that child was tearing him up inside.

"He will be okay, Kuri." Yusuke placed his hand on my shoulder. "We have to go on now. You go with Genkai."

"But, what about you guys?" I asked. "This is my world, too. I want to help."

"I know, Kuri. But trust me, this isn't your fight right now. But if we don't make it and things get bad, the world will need a savior. That savior may just be you." Yusuke gave me a small smile, which I returned. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all.

Yusuke followed Suichi along with Mitari. The only one left behind now was Hiei.

Genkai spoke up. "Kurisa, when you are ready, meet us at the cave entrance." They walked away carrying Amanuma.

I watched them turn the corner out of sight. A hand placed itself gently on my cheek and turned my head. I came face-to-face with Hiei. He actually looked kind of sad.

"Hiei, look, I understand now, okay? Whatever I may feel, sometimes it's not enough. I don't want to make things harder. I still want to be there for you, but…" He interrupted me by pulling me roughly against him and kissing me again. I kissed him back. I knew right now that I was probably digging my own hole of self-destruction, but in that moment, I really didn't care much.

He broke the kiss. I half expected him to run again, but he didn't this time. He kept his arms wrapped around my shoulders and gazed intently at me.

"I admit I have been an asshole lately to the one person I shouldn't have. And I'm sorry for that. Does it make sense that in a way I was trying to protect you?" Hiei asked.

"Protect me by hurting me?" I asked him. I was no longer angry, just curious.

"Yes, if that is what it would take for you to see me as I see myself. You deserve better than me." He said gently, staring at the ground.

"Maybe someday you will see yourself as I see you. You throw up walls around your heart because you are afraid of being hurt and rejected. I know. I've been there. You put up a front to others to try to show you are tough, but very few get to see the man I see." Hiei started to blush at that point as I placed my hand on his cheek. "Kind, protective, loving…" I trailed off as he looked at me with slight surprise. His hand covered mine.

"I promise you this. When I return, I will make things right. And Genkai was right, I actually do care." He stated sincerely.

I smiled gently. "Go, you have a world to save. But Hiei, remember the favor I asked of you at the Dark Tournament?" He nodded. "Do me that favor again. Please, don't die."

He squeezed my hand before slowly letting go. He turned to follow Yusuke, but he turned to face me one last time.

"And once again, I don't plan to." Hiei turned and followed the path to Sensui as I turned and followed Genkai's path.

I found my way outside by following Suichi's lanterns. Koenma had returned from spirit world and was using his pacifier to bring Amanuma back to life. Suichi would have been relieved to know that, if he were here so I could tell him.

Koenma took off into the cave soon after. I hoped Koenma could get there in time to save everyone I love.

Now we just had to play the waiting game, but we didn't have to wait long to see some action.

After fifteen minutes, I felt a rumble under my feet. The rumble turned into violent shaking and I was thrown to the ground. Kaitou ran over and helped me to my feet once the shaking stopped. Genkai walked over closer to the fence marking the cave entrance. She fell to her knees. I ran over to her.

"Genkai, what's wrong?"

"Is this what I came back for? More heartbreak?" She said sadly as tears started in her eyes. I held her steady and scanned the area for signs of life. Something terrible must have happened to illicit that response from Genkai.

I detected my brother's life energy about a mile down the cave. I also sensed Kuwabara's energy along with Hiei and Mitari. Then two energies I did not recognize. One human and one demon. That had to be Sensui and Itsuki. But where was Yusuke?

"An earthquake…" Botan said quietly. "Koenma said if there was an earthquake, return to spirit world and prepare for the worst. I'll be back, guys!" She summoned her oar and flew off.

It hit me then, Yusuke's life energy had ceased. He was dead. I sat stunned for several minutes, my mind lost in a haze. If Yusuke was gone, we were doomed.

After another few minutes, several orbs of bright white light could be seen flying into the cave entrance. Botan followed closely after and landed beside us at the entrance. She looked kind of disturbed and pale.

"Botan, what's wrong?" I asked. I have never seen that look on her face before.

"It's the Spirit Defense Force. King Enma called them into action. I have never seen them deployed in all my time as a reaper." She replied quietly.

"So if they are here, then its bad, isn't it?" I asked, dreading the answer.

Botan nodded in response. I leaned against the truck and put my head in my hands. I think I'd rather take about ten more dark tournaments than have to deal with this.

"It gets worse." Botan said ominously.

"How?" I asked looking up.

"King Enma ran a more detailed check on Yusuke in light of the whole Sensui issue. Several generations back, he found a demon ancestor." Botan said.

"Do what?" I said shocked. Our spirit detective, a demon? It would kind of explain some things.

"Yeah, and one of the most dangerous kinds too. The Mazoku."

I took some time to absorb that new information. Yusuke was a Mazoku demon? I had read about that variety in my travels. They were dangerous due to their high aggression instinct and love of fighting and violence. They were considered warriors or barbarians of demon world. And worse was their desire for human flesh as a food source. They relied on humans as the main staple of their diet.

"But that can't be. Yusuke's mother is human! Yusuke's father is human as far as we know…" I trailed off, realizing that I wasn't completely certain on that.

"Yes, his parents and grandparents are human, but his great great great great grandfather was a full Mazoku demon. And not just any demon. He is King Raizen, lord of one of the three territories of demon world." Botan finished.

"So what's going to happen now?" I asked.

"King Enma sent the SDF to close the portal. He also sent them to destroy Yusuke." She said.

"WHAT?" I yelled. "Botan, surely you are not standing for this. In case spirit world has forgotten, Yusuke has had a direct hand in saving the world more than a few times!" I said. I was angry at this point.

"Of course I don't agree, but what can I do?" Botan replied desperately. "I can't go against a direct order from King Enma, I'll be marked a traitor and killed!"

"Is this it? Are we really seeing how spirit world is actually run?" Genkai interjected. Everyone had been quiet from shock up until now.

"But Botan, how will they destroy someone who is already gone?" I asked.

Botan hung her head low. "By destroying his body before his demon blood can regenerate.

Oh yeah, that was another trait for half demons. Demons were a lot harder to kill than a human. So if their human body dies, the demon side can regenerate and live on.

"Would he be the same Yusuke?" I asked the obvious question.

"That's the problem. We don't know." Botan said darkly.

I felt a huge blast of powerful demonic energy. It was more powerful than anything I have felt in my entire life.

"That would be the energy equivalent to an S-class." Genkai stated.

"Oh, this is it, we're screwed!" Botan panicked.

"No, I don't think so. It's demon energy, but it feels familiar. It feels…good." I said. My eyes popped open in realization.

"It's Yusuke, he's alive! I don't know why, but I think we are going to be okay." I exclaimed, looking down into the depths of the cave.


	16. Chapter 16 Tonight the World Dies

Ch. 16:

* * *

Shizuru and Keiko arrived to our location soon after the SDF made their way into the cave. Keiko ran toward the mouth of the cave. I reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her.

"Let me go! I have to get in there! Yusuke!" She cried, panicked.

"Keiko, stop. Yusuke is fine." I tried to explain.

"No. You don't get it!"

"I do, Keiko. I felt it too. But I also felt him, um, come back." She stopped struggling and looked at me.

"It's hard to explain it really. I felt his energy. He did die, yes. But he came back…like last time." I explained it to her the best way I could.

Keiko went to her knees, crying silently. I sat down on the ground next to her and we waited for any sign of our loved ones.

After an hour, I detected movement at the entrance of the cave. I helped Keiko to her feet.

Koenma, Suichi, Mitari, and Kuwabara emerged from the darkness. Kuwabara was carrying a sleeping Hiei on his back. Yusuke emerged with them. He looked very different. His black hair had grown long and in the traditional Mazoku style. He had the Mazoku markings as well. So it was true. Our Yusuke was half demon.

Keiko ran to Yusuke and hugged him, not wanting to let him go. I smiled. I knew she was so relieved to see he was okay.

I ran over to Suichi and hugged him as well. Another apocalypse averted, I guess.

Eight figures suddenly emerged from the cave. They wore blue and white uniforms and their energy levels were strong A-class. They were King Enma's Spirit Defense Force.

"Koenma, you are being charged with high treason for aiding the Mazoku and allowing him to emerge into this world, knowing the risk involved." The captain of the SDF was a real ass.

"I'm aware, captain. And I understand the consequences involved." Koenma replied calmly.

"You will be exiled from spirit world, never to return. I'm sure you are aware of that. If you try to return, you will be executed." The captain said.

Koenma sighed. "So be it then."

"Hey news flash!" Yusuke spoke up. "Your starting to piss me off and threatening the guy who helped save us all is a great way to piss me off more. I don't start stuff with the defenseless, but you idiots are a different story. Threaten Koenma again, after he only did what he could to help, and I will kill you one by one." Yusuke growled at the captain.

"I'd love to accept that challenge, but another day. The tunnel is most important right now. This isn't over." The captain spoke ominously before he and his force disappeared in orbs of light back into the cave.

"Was that too much?" Yusuke asked Koenma, smirking slightly.

"No, Yusuke. Took the words right out of my mouth."

* * *

"Forgive me from speaking out, but he is your own son, and even though he disobeyed you, he and the Mazoku we're instrumental in saving all of living world."

"You're right." Replied the king of spirit world to his captain. "You are speaking out. I will decide their fate."

* * *

The next day I was asked to come to a small coffee shop in town at three in the afternoon. It was for some sort of meeting. I turned the envelope over in my hands as I made my way to the shop.

I hadn't heard from my brother or from Hiei since yesterday. I had wanted to ask them what this all could mean, but it seemed I would have to find out for myself.

I walked in the door and scanned the tables for anyone I either recognized or looked out of place. I recognized someone.

It was Koenma and Yusuke. I made my way over.

"Um, Yusuke? Shouldn't you be just leaving school?" I asked.

"Stupid school. How can I go back now after all this?" He replied.

I sighed and sat down next to him. I wasn't going to argue right now. He already looked depressed.

"What about you?" Yusuke asked, eyeing me suspiciously.

"My school gets out several minutes earlier than yours. Anyway, what's going on? Apart from the fact that I had a stalker from spirit world in my bedroom this morning." I asked Koenma, holding up the envelope I received.

Koenma sighed before looking up. It was really strange to see him this way.

"I've been banished from my realm. If I go back, I forfeit my life."

"For helping Yusuke." I interjected.

"Yeah. But my father isn't stopping there. He has sent out his men to assassinate Yusuke as well as all who helped him."

"WHAT?!" The toddler had to be joking. But I knew he was not. He seemed way too serious for that right now. "So basically we are all going to die now that we saved the world." I was getting pissed.

"Eventually, yes. His plan is to have me, Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei killed. That's everyone who had a more direct hand in aiding Yusuke. I think Kuwabara is exempt because he is human. My father always held favoritism toward humans. Lets just say that once I did too, but that has changed now." Koenma kept his eyes to the table as he spoke.

"I told Kurama and Hiei to lay low. Its possible that if my father finds me and Yusuke first, he may leave them alone."

"Is that likely?" I asked. I was truly getting scared now.

"I don't know." Koenma said sadly. "I told them to lay low, and my father is having difficulties tracking us. He has threatened to capture the girls: Keiko, Shizuru, Genkai, Yukina, and you Kurisa, and force you to tell of our whereabouts. And by force, my father will use methods of torture if he feels it is necessary. Yes, you, too, Kuri. My father knows of your relation with Kurama and of your, um, blossoming situation with Hiei." At this point, Yusuke snorted his iced coffee all over the table and burst into laughter!

"Hahahaha WHAT? You and Hiei? Really? Ha!" I pulled back and slapped him hard across the face. He fell off his chair to the floor.

"BAD TIMING RIGHT NOW! We have more pressing issues here I think." I glared at him before turning back to Koenma, letting Yusuke pick his own damn self off the floor.

"I can see the connection." Yusuke muttered as he rubbed the red mark on his cheek before settling down.

"Koenma. Ill be damned if I let spirit world capture and kill any of us. What can I do?" Little did I know, that question would change all of our lives.

"I called you because you really are the only one who can save us. My father also expressed a great desire to recruit you as his own spirit detective and into his personal Defense Force if you give your cooperation. He is just as impressed with your abilities as everyone else." Koenma explained.

"So, you are saying I may have leverage for a negotiation?" I asked.

"I believe so. What I'm about to ask you to do may change our lives as we know it. What I'm about to ask of you may be hard, but it just may save us all."

"I'll do it. Just tell me what I have to do."

* * *

"So you requested an audience with me, child." King Enma's voice boomed above me.

I had made my way to spirit world the next evening for an audience with King Enma. I was afraid, but I had to do it to save my family.

"Yes, sir. I sent a note ahead of time." I said, still bowing low to the floor.

"Rise." I did so. "You have been made aware of my plans. This I know. I also know you do not agree with my plans."

"I am here to offer my service to you as your spirit detective. I am also aware that I can only do this voluntarily. So, I have some conditions. Nothing too major but if they are met, I will do as you ask." I continued.

"Very well. Let me hear them." The King replied.

"I will become your spirit detective and will prove myself loyal, however, I ask you to call off the assassination of Koenma, Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei. I also ask that you allow them to live in peace and safety along with Keiko, Shizuru, Kazuma, Yukina, and Genkai. I am sure we can come to a more peaceful solution all around."

"Hm, perhaps we can. Very well. I will allow my son to return to spirit world. He will no longer be in charge of the detectives and he will work closely under me. Perhaps soon he will be able to prove his loyalty and show me that he has what it takes to take over my rule." I nodded my agreement to this.

"Furthermore, Yusuke the Mazoku, Yoko Kurama, and Hiei the Dragon Master have been summoned by their respective kings: Raizen, Yomi, and Mukuro, to return to demon world. They will be banished from human world, never to return. They will be allowed to live safely and in peace, provided they do not return to human world."

I went pale and I felt sick to my stomach. There was a good chance I would never get to see them again. Even worse, they will think I betrayed them to King Enma. But they would be alive and safe. That is all that really mattered.

"I agree to those terms, your majesty."

* * *

The next evening at Genkai's was one I wish I could forget for the rest of my life. It was honestly the worst night of my entire life.

"Spirit world has given Yusuke a dishonorable discharge. He has been banished from human world. Forever." Koenma explained.

"So have I." Hiei appeared behind us in the bushes, followed by Suichi.

"We have been summoned by the three kings of demon world, not to mention we have been banished by King Enma as well." Suichi said to us.

"Why he suddenly had such a change of mind, I do not know." Hiei said, emotionless.

"It was me." I spoke up. I kept my eyes to the ground. "I left for spirit world yesterday. I convinced King Enma to banish you guys in exchange for Yusuke's position."

"What?" Hiei said, shocked. His eyes blatantly showed great pain. I wanted to rip my own heart out for being the cause of that pain.

"Kurisa, why?" Suichi asked in a hurt tone. I kept my eyes glued to the ground. Everyone else remained silent. I had to make them truly believe that I had betrayed them. It was the only way to protect them now.

"It's done and I can't change it." I looked up and put on my best cold glare at the three of them.

'_You didn't really do this, did you?'_ Hiei's voice rang in my head.

'_Yes.'_

"_Look, I get it. You want power. I was like that too. I don't have to leave. I will stay.'_

'_No you can't.'_

'_Yes I can. Kurisa, I love you.'_ Hiei said desperately. I very nearly broke down at his admission. I knew what I said next would completely break him, but if I loved him as well, I had to.

'_I betrayed you, all of you. And I love being spirit detective. What do you think I was training for? Go_.' I shut him out of my mind and hated myself at the same time.

"Hn. There is nothing in this world for me anyway." Hiei glared so coldly at me, but I could barely detect a twinge of pain in his features. "I do not belong here."

Hiei left without another word and made his way to the portal and jumped through. It was probably the last time I would ever see him.

Suichi also walked toward the portal.

"Suichi…" I said gently.

He turned and glared at me. "You made a big mistake, little sister. I only hope you will someday learn from it." He said before he too jumped through the portal.

Everyone else filed past me as they made their way to the portal without another word. I looked up to see Keiko, Shizuru, and Yukina. All of them were looking at me shocked with tears brimming. I felt horrible for hurting them, especially Yukina. I regretted every tear that rolled down her cheeks; she carefully wiped them away before they could form hirosekes. Keiko glared at me and walked past me in a huff, taking care to knock my shoulder as she passed. I left at that point to go home.

As I walked back to the train station, Koenma met up with me.

"I intend to inform Kurama of the truth once he is settled down in demon world. Yusuke already knows the truth as you know. But what did you say to Hiei?" He asked.

I broke down crying in Koenma's arms. He just held me steady and patted me on the back.

"I had to tell him I betrayed him. He was going to stay despite what I did. I told him no and what does he do? He tells me he loves me and I had to reject him. I hate myself so much right now."

"It may not seem like it right now, but it will work out. I have a plan." Koenma informed me.

"A plan?" I asked.

"Yes. We do whatever my father asks. Prove our loyalty. In a few years time, if my father is satisfied, I will be able to take over as King of spirit world. Then I'll be able to bring them back."

"I'll wait as long as I have to, as long as I know they are okay."

* * *

Things just got a bit dicey didn't it? It's quite a twist that she's going to have to deal with now, but this is only the beginning of a long road of drama ahead.


	17. Chapter 17 Race for the Crown

Sorry about the delay. I had the next two chapters including this one ready to go, but when I read over them I thought "They are okay, but they could be better too. So I did a complete rewrite. Now I think they are at least as close to satisfactory as they are going to get. Thanks so much for all the reviews...seriously. I tend to write for myself and as a hobby. It is nice that some of you do enjoy reading what I post. And I cannot expect 100% satisfactory reviews, I realize that. But as the story continues and the consensus says that my story is just not good, then I will probably end up taking it down.

Hiei is tough to keep in IC sometimes. There is a fine line to tread with his personality. Perhaps all I was trying to depict was the possibility that he could soften up somewhat...if not with any of the canon characters, but only my OC. I have at least tried not to change him too much when it comes to his interactions with the canon characters. Other writers show him doing the same...softening some with their own characters while remaining the same otherwise. I tried explaining that before at the end of a previous chapter.

I do enjoy writing this, because I do like the story and where its going, and I assure you there are more twists and turns ahead and yes, perhaps a little bit more OOC-ness when it comes to my OC. Hopefully, you guys can stick through this with me.

Ch. 17:

* * *

It had been nearly eight months after the big rift between me and my friends and family. I missed them every day. I kept replaying all of the events in my mind wondering if I could have done things differently, but I knew I did the only thing that would keep them all safe.

Genkai seemed the only one who did not judge me, as she was still willing to train me. I knew from her past that she had always been neutral, even occasionally scoffing at the thought of fighting for a good and noble cause if it didn't suit her own purposes. She attempted to relate to my problems, which was nice of her, but her belief about what happened couldn't have been further from the truth. So lately I had been putting every bit of my free time into my training and studies. It was my escape from reality.

Things had been pretty quiet. I had been doing some training on the side with the SDF. I was progressing quickly now that I had nothing else to distract me. I had recently broken into A-class levels.

I was at Genkai's one evening working on some schoolwork. I spent a lot of time at her temple just hanging out. I felt very alone most of the time and she was good company.

"Kurisa, you have a visitor." Genkai spoke up. I looked up to see…

"Suichi!" I ran over to him and hugged him. I cried into his abdomen and he just held me and let me cry. I was beyond happy to see him, and even happier to see he had a loving, pleasant expression when he looked at me. I hated the thought of my own brother hating me too.

"I'm so sorry, sister. Please forgive me." He said gently. It was more than I could have ever hoped for. But I had to think the obvious. What the hell was he doing here? How did he get here? And did King Enma know?

"It's okay, brother. Oh this is the first time I've smiled in months." I said truthfully.

"Koenma told me everything, and I managed to work my way into King Enma's good side by sending him regular reports from demon world. I was offered payment in exchange, but the only payment I requested is that I be allowed to come to human world to visit my family. I'm sorry it took so long, but it took this long to gain King Enma's trust. I will be monitored while I am here, of course."

Suichi wrote something down on a notepad. _'Do not mention Koenma's plan!'_

I read his note and I nodded. King Enma could send anything or anyone to tail us.

"Yusuke pretty much told me everything as soon as we arrived in demon world. Of course Koenma confirmed it for me. So Yusuke and I both are on your side in this."

"But what about Hiei?" I asked.

"He left through the portal first and did not wait for us. We have not seen him since."

"Great, so he's the only one who still hates me." I said dejectedly.

"Why would he hate you?" Suichi asked. I had hoped to avoid going into much detail about it.

"He wasn't going to leave." I began as I stared at the floor fighting off the tears that threatened to fall. "He was willing to risk his life to stay here for me. So I had to tell him I betrayed him. He said it didn't matter. He told me he loved me. So I had to do the worst thing I could ever do to him. I had to reject him. I had to do it to save him."

Suichi stayed quiet for a moment, studying my words.

"Do you love him?" he finally asked.

"It's so strange, those words coming from Hiei. If you had asked me that at, say, the dark tournament, I don't know what my answer would have been. But now I can say without a doubt. Yes."

"I know you do. Only someone who loves as purely as you is willing to make these kind of sacrifices. But one day, you will be rewarded and you will get your happy ending." He assured me. I hoped he was right.

"So it's what I suspected all along." Genkai finally spoke up. She stood in the doorway and had listened in on the conversation. "You made everyone believe you a traitor in order to save us all, even if it meant sacrificing your own happiness. That is great loyalty you showed to this team, Kurisa. Trust me, it will work out."

"I plan on visiting mother, and then it's back to demon world. Yusuke's demon world tournament will be starting soon, so I have a feeling we will see each other again very soon."

* * *

"I have summoned you here because I have a case for you." King Enma had called me to spirit world for an urgent matter.

"I need you to go to demon world. Enter the Mazoku's demon world tournament. The winner gains sole rule of demon world. You will enter and win on behalf of spirit world."

I bowed low. "As you wish, King Enma."

* * *

Koenma, Botan, George the ogre, and myself arrived in demon world for the royal tournament a week after my meeting with King Enma. I knew Yusuke had organized this tournament to give demon world one ruler. He had done this to avoid a demon civil war from breaking out in the wake of the death of King Raizen.

I scanned the crowd to find familiar faces. I vaguely recognized King Yomi and his son, Shura, from the files I obtained from spirit world. Standing with them was my brother. I would have to remember to use his demon name while here to avoid any potential problems. His proper name was Kurama, I knew that. But regardless of how many times he transformed into Yoko, he would always be my human brother who I met one year ago. The day he no longer wanted to be known as "Suichi", he would let me know.

Next I saw was the second demon king, Mukuro. I had been warned by both Koenma and King Enma to beware of this particular ruler. Not much was known of his identity or background. I only knew it was King Mukuro due to the outfit and his face wrapped in bandages. The only fact known of the ruler of Alaric was that he was cutthroat, ruthless, and had a reputation throughout demon world as a violent tyrant.

Yet my brother had hinted at the notion that there was more to King Mukuro than anyone knew, and the facts may surprise us all. Strangely enough, as I felt the energy that King Mukuro was giving out, I could tell he was strong S-class, but the energy felt much more peaceful, more calm than I had expected. The thought of what I may discover intrigued me.

Suddenly I spotted Yusuke in the crowd surrounded by a gang of what looked like monks. Most of them were equal in strength to me, but Yusuke and one other monk stood out as the strongest of them all. They were putting out the energy of an S class demon.

The screen in front of us changed to show the results of the lot drawings. I would be in a group of my own against nineteen other competitors. It sounded like a lot of fun.

I heard a low, loud growl coming from King Mukuro's direction. I turned toward the sound to see a pair of red eyes glowing in the distance, glaring right at me. My heart dropped in my stomach as I recognized the figure. I closed my eyes tightly and lowered my head to the ground as I made my way back toward Koenma and Botan.

I wasn't ready to deal with this right now. A part of me knew he would be here, but I couldn't handle it yet. I couldn't stand to see Hiei look at me with such hate in his eyes. I made sure my mental blocks were up as my thoughts went haywire. As much as I wanted to blab out the truth to him, I knew doing so would unravel everything I've worked so hard for, provided that he actually believed me. There was a chance that if he were told the truth before he was ready to accept it, he could disregard it as a lie. The point was to keep everyone safe, including Hiei.

So for now, I had to keep up the ruse for his sake.

All competitors began making their way to their respective floating platforms for the preliminary round. Many demons on Yusuke, Yomi, and Mukuro's platforms dropped out of the tournament when they saw whom they were up against. I couldn't blame them. If you feel you aren't strong enough for this, go home rather than get yourself killed.

Now if I could only listen to my own advice, but I had no choice but to compete.

King Mukuro walked past me. The bandage had been removed. Mukuro was revealed to be a woman. Her appearance was shocking to me. She made for an intimidating figure. She stood within an inch of my height and had shoulder length auburn hair and a piercing blue eye. She would have been beautiful with a nice curvy figure if half of her body were not a prosthetic. The look she gave me as she passed was not aggressive per say, but it was cold and calculating. I shuddered inwardly. Her energy was so strong now that the feel of it nearly made me sick.

I shook it off and made my way to my platform. All nineteen of my competitors gathered around. Some drooled and some glared and some laughed, wondering what a simple human was doing in the tournament. I threw aside any doubts and insecurities and flared my energy to its peak, my aura surrounding the entire platform. Some of the weaker D class apparitions disintegrated where they stood from the mere strength of my power. Those who were previously leering and glaring looked a bit apprehensive now.

Good. I was in no mood.

Fifteen of us were left as the match began. Those who were left decided to attack me all at once as they felt I was the strongest in the group. I saw their strategy. They would work together as a team to take me out first before turning on each other.

"How primitive, yet, I commend you on the effort." I growled, annoyed.

I powered up my wind energy into a tornado that I could completely control and sent all my competitors flying. Some of the stronger B class apparitions managed to save themselves from flying off our floating platform. The C class demons who were lucky enough to fly or land safely forfeited to me. The unlucky ones, well, they shouldn't have signed up for this in the first place.

There were four demons left to face. They would be a bit more of a challenge. I focused lightning energy into my kukris. The sky darkened above me and a bolt of lightning struck me directly. I channeled the energy into my body, using my body as a sort of conductor for the electricity.

Two of my opponents drew swords; another charged energy into his fists, and the fourth drew what looked like a poisonous dagger.

I charged them head on. I used wind energy to increase my dodging speed. I avoided the two swords and the dagger, but as I turned I caught the energy fist in my stomach. I flew back but I caught myself before hitting the ground and landed not so gracefully on one knee.

I charged again. This time I avoided being struck. I was learning their fighting styles. The demon with the energy fists didn't turn in time. I stabbed him between the ribs with my kukri. Normally, it would not have been a killing blow, but as my blade struck it delivered a twofold jolt, electrocuting the demon. He fell to the ground, dead. Drawing lightning energy into my blades made any hit a killing blow for as long as my energy held up.

I raised my second blade to block the next demon's dagger and kicked him in the chest. My kick sent a similar electric jolt powerful enough to kill. He was dead before he hit the ground.

Now I was up against the two sword fighters. I needed to end this before I ran out of energy. I stared powering up my earth energy, an element I didn't use as much as some of the others. I remembered my acid attack and had been working on a new attack with it to hit multiple enemies at once.

Sulphuric acid was just another compound that made up the element of earth. Any compound of earth was available for me to use, including hardened gemstones and metals.

I powered up a yellowish green ball of sulphuric acid in my hands. I flared my energy once more, splitting the ball into several smaller balls. I sent them flying at high speed at my final two competitors.

They dodged several of the balls of acid, but a few did hit. Their screams of agony resonated with me. I hated hearing it. Their injuries were deep and painful but not widespread yet. If the acid were allowed to work, they would slowly and painfully be disintegrated.

I kneeled between them and powered up light energy in my hands. My remaining energy wasn't enough to completely heal them, but it stopped the acid in its tracks.

"Why did you heal us? We would have killed you just as ruthlessly." One of them asked.

I gave him a stern glance, but did not meet his eye. "Take this as a lesson of humility and mercy. You have yet to do anything to me to deserve that kind of death." I stood up and moved away as the two B class apparitions rose to their feet shakily.

"We concede to you. Clearly, we are no match." They said. I had made it through the preliminary round. What would be next?

* * *

"How can you talk to that traitor, Kurama?" I was fuming inside. I couldn't believe she would have the nerve to show up here.

What I couldn't figure out was if my anger was more at her betrayal, or of her words.

"She betrayed you too, you know. But then again, she is your sister. Have you already forgiven her then?" I asked Kurama, fixing him with my usual cold glare.

"Hiei, it's more complicated than you realize, and I promise I will tell you."

I ignored him as I took a glance at the standings. I really didn't care to hear any more about it. It was the quarterfinal round. All of us had passed our preliminaries.

I noticed Mukuro's match would be first. Her opponent was…Kurisa?

If I was going to act, it had to be now. But after what she did to me, did I really still care what happened to her?

I had opened my mind and heart to the girl, something I had never allowed before. I thought that she understood me, maybe could even see past my darkness and love me and accept me as I am.

But then she could have done so much worse than have me banished. She could have had me killed, had me handed over to King Enma himself.

Whatever. I guess I would end up saving the little fool after all.

"Mukuro." I said as I approached. "Your opponent is…" I narrowed my eyes as I was interrupted.

"The current spirit detective. I'm aware. Don't worry, she will not win." Mukuro answered me, annoyed.

"That's just it. Defeat her if you must. Do not kill her." I finished.

"Why?" Mukuro looked at me, interested.

"Lets just say I owe her this one." I said.

Mukuro looked at me strangely for a moment, analyzing my motives.

"Very well, I will let her go alive."

* * *

My next opponent in the quarterfinals was the demon king Mukuro. Or should I say 'queen'? It was all so confusing to me.

Our match started. Mukuro and I circled each other, each waiting on the other to make the first strike. I had to admit I was scared. This demoness was clearly too strong for me. She would kill me with just a simple flex of her energy.

"I know what you did, Kurisa. Tell me, did you really betray my second in command?" She asked me. What was she trying to gain from this?

"No, I didn't. I did what I did to save him. All I want for him is to be safe and alive." I gazed intently at her, trying to figure out her motive.

"Hm, I can tell you aren't lying." She straightened up and looked at me curiously. "So why would you break his heart like that?"

"He was going to stay for me, despite him believing in my betrayal. It would have gotten him killed." I didn't go into much more detail than that. I didn't want to have to explain that he admitted he loved me, and I just rejected him. It hurt me to think about it.

"You are there with him picking up the pieces, aren't you?" I asked Mukuro. It was the only explanation that made sense.

"Someone had to. I was prepared to kill you if you had really betrayed him. You don't have to worry about that. I actually sort of like you, even. But I am still going to defeat you." She said.

"That's okay. I think I sort of like you, too. I have faith that if you win, you will be a good ruler, despite what I have heard. I will concede to you, but I do have to fight you, however."

"Why?" She asked, interested.

"King Enma." I said simply. Mukuro's face looked grim.

"He's using you as his pawn. Probably holding your friends well being above your head. He plays a dirty game when it comes to demon world, even if it means hurting those beings called humans he claims to favor so much in the process." I couldn't say I disagreed.

We charged at each other. We used only our energy, no weapons. I powered up my fists and my feet and delved into my martial arts training. Mukuro met each of my blows skillfully, each of us blocking the other.

I powered up my fist with a water ball and punched her. I sent her flying backwards, soaking wet. She did catch herself before she hit the ground, her feet making grooves in the ground.

"Not bad. Fighting you might be fun." She commented before charging at me again. I powered my wind energy and took to the air. I dodged each of her hits with relative ease, but I could tell she wasn't using her full strength. The problem being that I was using my full strength and it was clearly no match.

I charged my lightning energy without warning. It created an orb of orange light around me. I channeled in the energy and suddenly released it, causing an electrical force in the air around us that created enough power to push Mukuro back and give her one heck of a jolt. She hit the ground, taking a small amount of damage in the process.

"Not bad. You got some potential, child." She commented. "But now, lets end this."

Mukuro powered up light energy in her hands. It sparked and crackled in her palms and took the form of five energy spears. She sent them at me at high speed. I dodged the first three, but the fourth hit me, grazing my shoulder.

I hit the ground, hard. I struggled to rise and finally got to my feet.

"I concede." I murmured to her. "Take your victory."

Mukuro nodded and sent her last light spear toward me. She made a direct hit to my chest, but missed my vitals. I vaguely remembered hitting the ground and everything went black.

* * *

"Look, she's waking up." A distant voice said.

"Shut up!" Said another.

My eyes fluttered open. I was on a hospital cot. My chest was wrapped in gauze. Yusuke, Suichi, Koenma, and Botan were standing around me.

"How do you feel?" Suichi asked me.

"Like a light spear hit me in the chest." I grumbled sarcastically. I looked around. "Listen, I let Mukuro win, not that I actually had a chance against her anyway."

"We know. She came to inform me of what happened soon after they took you back here." Koenma assured me. "She will not be in any trouble."

"Well I got my fight against Yomi coming up. I gotta split. See ya later kid sis, its good to see ya." Yusuke said to me before he took his leave to get ready for his match.

"Hiei and Mukuro had to face each other in the semi-finals soon after. Hiei lost, however…" Suichi trailed off, looking pointedly at the ground.

"However?" I pressed him. Whatever it was, I was a big girl. I could take it. I even kind of expected it.

"They are now together. I'm sorry Kurisa." Suichi said gently, placing a hand on my arm.

I quickly wiped away a tear hopefully before anyone else saw. The point of this whole thing was for him to be safe, alive, and happy, right? If she was able to give him what he was looking for, how could I not want that for him? She was a demon, after all.

"You have been summoned back to spirit world." Koenma said gently.

"Yeah, probably cause I lost. As much as I'd like to keep him waiting, I can't. I'll see you in a week, Suichi." I stood on my feet and gave my brother a hug. I was a bit sore still, but I was functional.

"Okay Koenma, lets go."

* * *

"So was King Enma very hard on you?" Suichi asked as he sipped his tea. He had come for his regular visit to human world. He was allowed to take a portal every two weeks to human world on the condition that he would be monitored while here. We were hanging out at home.

"Not really. He was actually impressed that I held my own as long as I did against a territorial ruler. He has upped my training schedule this summer though. Four days a week I'll be training with the SDF. Yipee." I finished sarcastically. The Spirit Defense Force was not my favorite group of people to hang with that was for sure. They constantly enjoyed putting down Yusuke and Hiei, and two of them bragged every chance they got that they were the ones who had tracked down and nearly killed Yoko Kurama. It seriously pissed me off. They knew who I was and of my connection to Kurama. I had to consciously will myself not to strike out at these moments.

"Kuri, I wanted to ask you something. Do you ever want Hiei to know the truth?" Suichi asked me. It was quite the loaded question.

"Suichi, I trust that you will know when the time is right for him to know. When you think Hiei is ready to hear and accept the truth, then yes, you can tell him." Even if the right time is after my lifetime, which was the price I was willing to pay.


End file.
